Fractured
by Wends
Summary: A young amethyst eyed boy with the Power of the Dragon of Heaven appears in Sumeragi Subaru's semi normal life in late 1990... [SS,KS, rated for Tokyo Babylon's canon adult content and future situations]
1. Premonitions

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Timeline assumptions, CSD insertion (no, I don't own them either, damn it all) X character cameos and flying urns at Nai-ku.

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

Yet another long day at school had finally met its conclusion.

Shoulders sagging in relief, I finally allowed an exasperated sigh to plummet past my lips as my ears were accosted with more chatter and laughter from the others who rode the bus I was inhabiting at the moment. It had been an astronomically wretched day, and unfortunately it held no promise of improving with its steadfast march towards its inevitable conclusion.

That morning my teachers had lambasted me yet again. My Anatomical Sciences instructor had suggested that I drop his class as lack of attendance was destined to hurt my performance once exams rolled around. My homework was only half done as well, which had only served to fuel the fires of their ire. I hadn't been aware that we had a reading assignment in my Modern Literature class, and thus was understandably utterly lost when the rest of my class began to discuss the material they had studied the night before.

While my professors understood that my work held precedence over my schooling and my family demanded I see to my clan responsibilities before continuing with my educational goals, they were quite disgruntled with me.

I had makeup homework to last me the rest of my week. Bundles of folded papers were carelessly shoved into my already heavy backpack, covering the ceremonial items I continuously carried with me more out of habit than out of necessity.

No boy needed four ceremonial daggers and a box of ofuda in class.

Actually, though, I was beginning to think that they might come in handy after witnessing the anger of my Literature professor as I stared blankly at her when she asked about that reading assignment's validity to me.

I'm still convinced that lady is possessed. Maybe I should try to send whatever malicious spirit chose to inhabit her body to the Spiritual Realms they should rightly inhabit when next we meet.

Driving my thoughts away from their dwelling on my most sinister of teachers, I returned my gaze to the passing streets and cars outside of my bus environment. Yes, those classes were terrible today. Especially as each of my instructors made it a point to call me and my horrid attendance record out in class, in front of my fellow classmates.

Not that my classmates made my life miserable because of it. Indeed, many were sympathetic to my family responsibilities. Some people's sympathy extended into levels that nearly exuded pity over my position as leader of my clan and every duty that was entailed with that enormous station. Others were fascinated by the occult and for some reason found their hearts flooded with envy or intrigue concerning me once it had leaked on campus thanks to my ever-helpful sister that I am an onmyouji.

Bah. If they wished to send spirits, let them. It's far less glamorous work than most people suspect, and not granting of the rewards they think it deigns to give those who perform such tasks. I just find it rewarding as I know that I am helping someone, whether alive or dead, in attaining peace.

No, it wasn't my classmates. It was the attention. I've never liked being the center of it.

I gritted my teeth as a wildly wielded fan smacked my back solidly once again. The boys behind me were certainly misbehaving. However, it wasn't my place to discipline them. Especially not for simply taking joy in this moment in their young lives, for enjoying themselves.

"Nokuro, stop it! That's the third time you've hit that guy!"

"Oops. Sorry, mister!"

Glancing back, I flashed a friendly smile at the blushing blonde boy and his blue-haired disciplinarian. "It's quite alright," I reassured them with a nod.

"If Akira would quit ducking, I wouldn't hit that guy," the blonde's voice hissed as they resumed their conversation.

Turning my attention away from them as the black haired boy who sat nearest to the aisle I was standing in for lack of sitting room giggled nervously, I watched the passing world once more.

Homework, grouchy professors and wild stranger-accosting children on an overly crowded bus making its way to Shinjuku from Clamp Academy.

On top of that horrible set of circumstances, I'd been called to the principal's office. Not for disciplinary action, but rather to retrieve a fax. It was informing me of a job of such high priority that it couldn't wait for my arrival at home. Ise Jingu needed me to respond as quickly as possible to an emergency they were having with the local spirits.

Such is the way of things.

So, stuck without the opportunity to change and caught with the unfortunate fate of being forced to carry my overly heavy backpack all the way to work, I was condemned to the public transportation system for the rest of the night and well into the next morning. Plus with no change of clothing, I'd be forced to adopt whatever robes they might have available at Ise Jingu for a guest while I had my outfit laundered before the overly long trip back. And I'd be missing the next couple of days of school right after a long string of what my professors saw as inexcusable absences had just ended.

And on top of that, I would have to explain at the terminal where I would switch lines why I wasn't going to be accompanying Hokuto-chan to Seishiro-san's clinic this afternoon like I'd promised them both I would, and in fact wouldn't be back in Tokyo much less the Shinjuku district until late Friday at the earliest.

Sometimes I truly do hate my life.

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"SUBARU!"

The voice could never be mistaken. That, combined with the fact that only one person would scream my name across a crowded bus terminal, informed me that my sister was awaiting my arrival.

A quick scan of the area immediately revealed where she was. Indeed, she would be impossible to miss in her loudly colored outfit. A bright aquamarine sleeveless shirt gathered at the base of her sternum with a rhinestone-studded t-shirt tie, garishly neon orange hip-hugging bellbottoms clinging to her body down to her calves like a second skin, a fluorescent green purse and matching gel-banded watch and platform sandals that matched her shirt all topped off with a bright orange beret, made her an impossibly loud clash of colors that nobody with working eyes could possibly miss.

Only Hokuto-chan could combine such articles and make them look good.

Letting a smile light my lips, I made my way to my sister, trying to ignore the looks we always inevitably drew when we were together.

I've never understood why people always have to take a second glance as if to confirm what they'd seen the first time.

Perhaps her habit of choosing loud outfits was what drew that attention. After all, she was a blinding beacon of color in the midst of the dull scene of blacks, browns, grays and blues that was the after-work bus terminal scene. And she'd dressed me in a black sleeveless turtleneck t-shirt with matching skin-tight pants that vanished into the tops of zippered combat boots. The only thing about my outfit that told of my attendance at Clamp Academy was the school uniform jacket that was loosely shrugged over my shoulders, the book bag that heavily dragged down my left side and the tie that was loosely tied into a decorative square knot around my neck. Really, where she drew her fashion ideas from was a realm far beyond my comprehension.

Or perhaps what drew people's attention was the fact that our faces exactly mirrored one another. Perhaps it was the fact that the only reason one could tell the difference in our gender was that she had the beginnings of a woman's curves while I was understandably as washboard flat as anyone could be, though Seishiro-san often teased me by telling me that the concavity of my stomach would give me curves I wasn't supposed to have as a boy. Of course he always told me that when I was rushing off to a job and being forced to sacrifice dinner for work.

I don't suppose I'll ever know. To me, looking at my reflection every time I look at my sister is as natural as breathing.

"Hokuto-chan," I greeted as I approached her.

"Ah, it's about time!" she began, her hand finding her hip and a smile lighting her lips. Bright orange lipstick accentuated the curve of her mouth. How she ever managed to find lipstick to match those pants… or much less that hat…!

"Well, I can't expedite the public transportation system," I automatically responded, my reply drawn from the similar banter we shared every day when she'd greeted my arrival from school while my brain was still pondering where in heaven's name she'd managed to dig up matching make-up and that damned hat.

Grinning, she grabbed my wrist. Ah, so she intended to physically drag me along to Seishiro-san's clinic. Unfortunately that wasn't going to be possible today, or tomorrow, and very possibly the day after depending on how long the job I'd been called for took. Damned work.

She was going to fetch lunch at McDonalds. I'd be missing out on Chicken McNuggets and fries. Regrettable, but not nearly so terrible as missing one of her home-cooked meals which I was certain I was destined to do over the next couple of days. And she was going to spend the afternoon, and perhaps the evening, and probably the afternoons and evenings of those days to follow, with Seishiro-san in the clinic. I'd be missing out on playing with the animals and helping him with the new puppies he had in his kennel. I'd be missing out on spending time with him.

It took every ounce of discipline I had in me to keep from following her, from letting my feet merrily fall into rhythm with her steps and happily trot along to McDonalds to pick up dinner. I wouldn't give in to my longings. I couldn't. Not when the job at Ise was so very urgent that they faxed my school to inform me of their need for my services.

Hokuto-chan nearly fell on her rear when I didn't budge as she'd expected me to. A slightly less-than-graceful stagger back kept her from toppling over in her elevated shoes.

She turned and stared at me, her eyes that were so identical to my own differentiating themselves from mine with glimmers of confusion and the beginning fires of anger. Oh God was I going to be reamed for this. She was set to throw a fit and I hadn't even had the opportunity to explain myself.

"Neh Subaru, what's wrong?" she began, her tone mixing concern with the underlying unvoiced statement of 'you'd better have a damned good reason for nearly making me mess up my new pants.'

"I've got a job," I meekly muttered, unable to put any more strength into that statement. I already knew the explosion was coming. She was going to have to carry their evening meal all by herself. And on top of that she'd have the task of informing Seishiro-san that I wouldn't be by that evening. And she'd be forced to deal with him on her own, or even worse have to spend the next couple of days alone without any company.

Damn it all.

"A job," she stated, her voice dead calm. "When did you hear about this? And why couldn't you tell me before now?"

Uh oh. Rising hysteria was flooding her voice. She was quickly approaching her 'unreasonable' state. Great. Just great. Best to be forward and blunt.

"I just heard about it today while at school," I timidly whimpered, already more than frightened out of my mind. Hokuto-chan would never give me reason to fear her. She wasn't abusive in either the physical or verbal senses, but she was quite intimidating when she was enraged. It's just in my nature to shrink away from frightening situations, objects and people. Call it survival instinct if you will.

"At school," she repeated, her fingernails drumming at her waist.

"Aa," I confirmed queasily before continuing, "Ise Jingu faxed the principal with a request that I come tonight."

A dramatic sigh escaped her lips. Hokuto-chan knew I'd never lie to her over such matters as this. It simply wasn't in my capacity to tell a falsehood; I especially couldn't lie to one I love so much as her. "Well, you'd best be on your way then, I suppose," she huffed with more exasperation than was entirely necessary. A hand fell from her hip and limply dangled from her wrist as she hung her head. "I'll simply have to carry our dinner on my own."

"Hokuto-chan," I huffed, my fear eradicated by her over-acted display, "you know I have to respond. Especially-"

"Especially if it was so important that the Shrine itself felt fit to contact you at school and in the middle of the school week, I know, I know," she cleanly interrupted. "It's not so much the carrying, Subaru. It's just…"

I arched a brow, waiting for her to finish her lamentation.

"It's just that you don't have to see that broken-hearted look in Sei-chan's eyes every time I have to tell him that you aren't going to be there for the evening. It's even worse when I have to tell him that you'll be gone for a couple of days without even saying goodbye," she finished with a puff of breath.

God, she knew right where to hit.

I think, perhaps, she knew that this time it had gone a bit far, that it had struck a bit too deep.

Could she see the discomfort I felt in my being on my face? Were the wrenching pull of my heart withering in upon itself and the sickening tugs of my stomach as it veritably shimmied into my throat that visible? Were the grumbles of indigestion actually audible as they roared through my body, threatening to return my lunch to my mouth for a second evaluation of the extraordinary culinary magic of the ladies that prepared the student lunches daily at Clamp Academy?

All I know is that her face instantly softened, her smile slipping completely from her face as she wrapped her arms around my shoulders in a comforting hug.

Letting my nose press into the crook between shoulder and neck, allowing the sweet scent of her raspberry shampoo flood my nostrils, I let the pensive sigh that'd been trapped in my lungs since I'd read that fax and realized that I would indeed be disappointing Seishiro-san yet again escape me. "I know I'm a displeasure. I'll… I'll try to get there as quickly as I can. Will you please tell him that?"

"Subaru," she whispered into my hair, stirring its black locks with her hot breath, "don't you even think about rushing this so you can get to the clinic before he leaves tomorrow night. Ise's a long ride from here, even by train."

"I know, but if I hurry-"

"Don't, Subaru," she grunted even as she tightened her grip on my frame. "I'll just tell Sei-chan that urgent business came up. You know he'll understand. Take all the time you need."

"But-"

"Don't you DARE rush," she interceded. "I know you, Subaru. You've been the same since you were beginning the practice. When you hurry, you forget steps and wards and just depend on your raw power to pull you through something." Pulling her face back, she glared into my eyes. I wanted to shrivel under her penetrating gaze as she calmly said, "I want my brother back in one piece. It's worth it both to Sei-chan and myself if you take a little extra time and just take care."

"Hokuto-chan…"

I couldn't begin to put my gratefulness into words. She'd take care of everything, as she always did. She'd keep Seishiro-san from being disenchanted with me.

"You'd better go before you miss your bus," she said with a grin.

"Aiya!" I gasped, turning just in time to see that the bus I needed to take to get to the train station was closing its doors. "Arigato, Hokuto-chan!" I managed to shout even as I grabbed my backpack's straps tightly and ran as quickly as I could to that bus.

The driver was kind enough to swing the doors open for me and allow my red-faced personage onboard.

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While on the train, I'd dreamed.

It was something about the train that always eased me to sleep. I could never hope to understand that phenomenal effect the motion of such a large vessel had over my person. All I knew was that I had my most restful snatches of slumber while sitting upright, traveling to one destination or another.

While home in my bed, I always found my sleep disturbed by dreams and memories. Never was it very restful, unless someone in the waking world accompanied me into slumber. When I was young, Hokuto-chan used to fill that very necessary position. Grandmother allowed it, despite the hisses of how improper such behavior was that emanated from the rest of our clan. I think, perhaps, Grandmother knew that my sister's presence was all that promoted peaceful slumber for me and that such was more necessary than the pretense of proper behavior.

Besides, we're twins, damn it all.

And recently, with Hokuto-chan in her own apartment….

Well, if my dear sister knew that on some nights two bodies rather than one warmed my bed….

Or if she knew that on some nights the evening air chilled my bed as it sat empty and abandoned while I rested elsewhere….

I don't believe she would ever let Seishiro-san out of her line of sight again if she had any idea of what heights we'd taken the relationship she was promoting to without her knowledge or approval. If she knew that on occasion (though those occasions were becoming far more frequent these days) Seishiro-san was holding me as we both drifted into exhausted sleep, she'd never let me hear the end of it – and she'd never let him escape from her wrath.

She'd definitely have Grandmother informed of our relationship rather than encouraging secrecy, of that I'm more than certain.

But the necessity to have a partner to rest an entire night without being plagued by nightmares only seemed to apply itself to stationary residencies. Dreams usually didn't visit my sleep on trains or busses.

Thus the fact that I'd dreamed on the train-ride to Ise was remarkable enough that I was prompted to remember that dream well into my waking hours.

Seishiro-san and I had once had a discussion about dreams. I had dreamt of a girl I'd known in my youth, from those bygone days when I'd attended elementary school in my home city of Kyoto. I'd relived the memories of those days, of seeing her with her gaily colored dress and her bright yellow umbrella, her brown eyes sparkling with mad life as she flashed me an inviting smile.

The dream had been so vivid, so real, that I once again felt my heart plummet into the core of my being as her cheerful voice chirped as brightly as any merry bird's song, "I hate Subaru-kun, because he's not normal!"

When I'd recounted that dream to Seishiro-san, he'd poked fun at me about harboring another in my heart and him having a rival for my affections. He'd also told me that the dreams of an onmyouji were more often than not premonitory.

Me harboring affections for others over those I hold for Seishiro-san? False.

Premonitory dreams? Very true, as I'd discovered later that week. I'd indeed been forced to meet the girl from my past, from my dreams. I'd been called upon to draw her out of her soul, out of the bottom of her heart, to assist her back to the harsh reality she'd run from and help her to move beyond the nightmarish assault that had plagued her so terribly as to drive her to run into herself to escape it. We'd both been forced to face our combined past, to face our feelings about one another, to realize what had happened and what had gone so wrong during those far-gone times. And we'd been able to move on; to dedicate ourselves to renewed friendship, to renewed hope and light in the wake of horrid adversity.

Seishiro-san had teased about her being a rival for two weeks after that case had been wrapped up.

Still, his teasing and attention and constant recollections about that girl had kept the thought of premonitory dreaming being part of the life of an onmyouji fresh in my mind. And though that teasing had stopped quite some time ago, that thought in regard to dreaming remained with me.

The dream that had visited my sleep on the train ride to Ise had started in a plain of darkness. There was no discernable difference between ground and sky. I'd called for Seishiro-san in one breath, Hokuto-chan in the next.

When my voice had been absorbed into that oppressing blackness and neither one of them appeared I'd panicked.

Panicking in dreams brings interesting reactions.

I could sense the energy flaring around me, desperately springing into reality to search the lonely dreamscape for another being. The blue glimmer of my own aura lit before my eyes like a burning, insatiable fire that called for anyone, anything to respond to me.

From across the black plain, lost in the distance and the shadows, a roar echoed mournfully.

That energy that had surrounded me exploded without warning or reason, screaming towards what from my perspective would be the sky. My eyes followed it, staring without comprehension yet without fear, as I knew this was but an extension of myself.

My eyes widened as it took form.

Jaws opening and eyes burning brightly, the serpentine form slithered skyward, its blue-flame body writhing as it reached for the heavens. Huge fangs snapped at the darkness that surrounded it as giant claws gripped the fabric of starless night that encased it. Sparkling scales shimmered with every rippling bend of its frame. Waves of thick hair poured down its snaking back. Backward curving antlers sprang from above fan-shaped earflaps.

I was staring at a dragon! A huge, bright blue dragon!

It was staring with its luminescent blue eyes into the distance, its far superior senses detecting the source of that roar that had resounded earlier.

I fell to my knees covering my ears as it opened its huge jaws and responded with a deep roar of its own.

The darkness shivered violently. There's no other way to describe what my dream had done – the darkness quaked and shivered like cloth when suddenly pulled taunt and shaken.

The dream's environment erupted, falling in sharp splinters and fragments much like shards of glimmering black glass over a blindingly white background that sought to replace the absorbing shadows as that roar I'd heard earlier replied to what my own aura had formed.

I'd have to discuss this dream with Seishiro-san later. There was no way I could begin to comprehend it with my limited experiences in life.

I couldn't begin to explain why another dragon, nearly identical to that formed by my aura in my subconscious state, had screamed out of the distance to embrace my own in a serpentine hug that was friendly yet nearly erotic, hovering near sexual violence though it was in of itself ridiculously tender. Nor could I begin to explain why my dream, at the very moment those two dragons touched, was flooded with a storm of snowy feathers and soft pink sakura petals.

And for the life of me, I couldn't begin to imagine why in the distance, at the base of that other energy-crafted blue dragon, I'd seen another boy so very like myself yet obviously not a dream-crafted reflection.

I couldn't explain why I'd seen a boy I'd never met before, yet felt so very familiar with.

As I made my way to a taxicab and calmly told the driver to take me to the Temple of Ise, I let myself ponder about that dream I'd had. About the dragon so identical to my own. About the boy I'd seen.

About those amethyst eyes I couldn't bring myself to easily forget….

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The girl very nearly had me fidgeting nervously as I waited for the priestess I was to speak to concerning the problems the lands were experiencing at the Inner Shrine to draw herself away from her duties and approach me in my waiting place in Ge-ku's vast, spacious lobby. She was staring at me with the most level, critical gaze I've ever seen. Such an odd stare to come from the eyes of a child who seemed to have only seven or eight years of life to her!

Her gaze was one that criticized and questioned, almost intensely enough to cause anyone to squirm in their chair and wonder exactly what it was the child seemed to be blaming you for. At least, that's how it felt to me – incredibly disconcerting, even though I knew I'd done no wrong. At least, I'd committed no wrong in recent times anyway.

Soon another person entered the room I was waiting in, giving me some other focus to my attention, for which I was greatly thankful. Turning my stare away from the petulantly glaring girl to the tall, stately woman with her long straight brown locks, I smiled cheerfully despite the exhaustion that was taking me from the compounded trials of my day. It was early morning, but the day in of itself had been so tiring I couldn't think of anything other than getting this job done, going home and spending a quiet evening with Seishiro-san. And Hokuto-chan too, of course, provided she was still up when the last busses made their rounds in Shinjuku.

Banishing the blush that was threatening to come to my cheeks as a result of my thoughts of what I'd rather be doing at that moment, I kept my attention to the priestess before me.

"Sumeragi-san, thank you for replying so quickly to our request," she said as she offered me far too deep of a bow.

That was yet another thing I despised about my position. People showed me such ridiculous respect. I don't consider myself as anything special; I'm just an ordinary onmyouji doing what I can for those I can help. However my position as head of my family, director of our clan, was a station that drew the reverence of nearly everyone who knew what an onmyouji was in all of Japan. And no one ever took into consideration that the person with the position they were paying respects to didn't want to be singled out or appreciated, but just wanted to be regarded as an ordinary person there to accomplish a task and go home to a warm bed and pleasant company.

Squelching my thoughts, I returned the Ise priestess' bow, deftly catching my backpack by its straps as it slid off my back. "It is no problem. Can you please tell me the nature of your problem?" I cordially began, trying to not include the underlying 'and can we hurry this up so I can go home before midnight tonight?' my mind was trying so desperately to throw to my lips.

"Of course," she said with a polite smile as she laid her hand lightly upon that serious-faced little girl's head. Directing her attention to the child for a moment, she murmured, "Arashi, please stay inside while I take our guest to Nai-ku."

Interesting that the mention of the most sacred of the Ise Shrines should send a flicker of fear through that girl's eyes. Was their problem truly so terrible?

As the girl walked with as stately of pose as her tiny frame could muster into Ge-ku's interior, I turned my attention back to the priestess who had come to address me. "Nai-ku?"

Nodding even as she turned and began to walk away from Ge-ku, her sandals scraping harshly over the gravel path she intended to lead me down, she sighed. "Yes. It's been inhabited as of late by a rather volatile spirit."

As I left the shade provided by the overhanging shrine's roof and the smooth wood flooring to follow the lady into the wooded area that surrounded Ise's outermost structure, I shivered as a chill wind blew past and stirred my clothing and the leaves of the trees. Autumn was swift approaching if the breezes were truthful in what they conveyed. Turning my attention back to my guide, I questioned quietly, "A volatile spirit? As far as I've known, Ise has had no history of spiritual unrest."

"You speak true, Sumeragi-san," she confirmed with a nod, casting me a quizzical glance over her shoulder. "This has us concerned. Our own wards have been able to keep these grounds an area of peace and tranquility since recorded time began here at Ise Jingu, but they've seemed to be insufficient so far as this one particular spirit is concerned."

"It can bypass your wards?"

"With ease," she said with a slight bow of her head, turning her gaze back up the gravel path. "Our wards do nothing to keep that spirit at bay. Such is why it was able to violate our sacred shrine."

"Has any harm come of this?"

"Three worshippers have been injured since it arrived. One was so critically wounded that she died later that evening."

My feet stopped in their trek. A spirit injuring people? Killing people? Certainly they could cause mental unrest and property damage, but actually inflicting harm on a living being?

I knew of spiritual beings that were capable of this. Inugamis, shikigamis, other spiritual servants drawn of a spell's power all had the capacity to affect the physical realm with ease, causing any harm the caster wished to be incurred upon others. I'd seen the strength of shikigamis, and indeed commanded it myself when necessary. I'd witnessed the harm that could be caused by a wild, uncontrolled inugami thirsting for destruction and having its attentions twisted from its target to those who were antagonizing its target.

But a spirit itself was causing harm? I'd yet to find any person capable of inflicting such damage to the residents of the realm of the living. I personally didn't think it possible, unless that person were one who was gifted – an onmyouji, perhaps, or a flame master, wind master or like elemental manipulator.

She wasn't telling me something.

"How exactly were they harmed?" I asked as I hurriedly caught up to the priestess who led my small sojourn to my destination.

Silence was my reply. She simply rounded a corner, nearly vanishing into the thick vegetation to wade into the river that trickled gently past the shrine in question.

Following her, I nearly staggered in the river. She had stepped out of my way after washing her face in the chilled water and taking a sip of its bubbling liquid, taking refuge behind a tree that grew on the nearby bank.

Casting her one final glance, I knew all that I needed to know. I wasn't going to be getting any answers from her concerning how this spirit had managed to do what she claimed it had done. There was only one course of action for me. Remembering the customs for approaching the shrines of Ise, I quickly repeated her actions, bathing my face and sipping the cold, crisp water before approaching the area of consternation.

I stepped into the shrine.

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My eyes were threatening to lose their focus on the outside world as I attempted to stare at the scenery that raced by. The world outside of the taxicab I inhabited was slowly fading towards a dark black shade, deeper than the night that had fallen over the city of Tokyo, becoming more faded and fuzzy than it had been during the entirety of my torturous train trip back to the city I called home. I was nearly tempted to tell the driver of the cab to ignore my request to take me to the Sakurazuka Veterinary Clinic in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo and instead take me to the nearest hospital. However, my longing to get to the clinic before Seishiro-san left for the night kept my longing for that hospital room, powerful medications and some miraculous cure to my fading vision at bay.

Hokuto-chan was going to rip me to pieces for rushing the job.

It had a satisfactory end, I suppose. That's what I would tell my sister – that I had successfully sent the wind master's hatred-stained spirit to rest, granting him the peace of the Spiritual Realm. The poor specter that had come to haunt Ise's inner shrine was nothing less than a prospective protector of that very establishment who had taken his own life when the stresses of duties combined with his family problems became too much for him to bear. I do suppose I can see his view, as he was trying to deal with the fact that his father, his last remaining family, was dying at his home in the country of cancer and his duties with the shrines were keeping him from being able to comfort the man in his last months of life. However, there's always another option; suicide, a dilemma I've encountered far more often than I care to recount, didn't make sense to me. Every life has a purpose that should be played out. Every life has a reason to continue. No life should be brought to its termination until that life's ultimate Wish has been fulfilled.

That's why such spirits remain. Their Wish, unfulfilled and destined to remain so forever, haunts them and binds them to the material world. So unfortunate.

He had Wished to serve Ise, to be one of its prime wind masters in its service, but had crumpled under the weight of his hardships. So vengeful was he against the shrines for keeping him from his father that he chose to haunt what he had wished to protect. And the attempts of those who worshipped at the shrine he was inhabiting to drive him away with their wards and their prayers drove him to such insane rage that he'd retaliated utilizing every bit of his ability that remained after death.

Maybe if I hadn't rushed into the shrine and voiced my lamentation that I wanted to get that job over and done with so I could go home to Seishiro-san, if I'd taken the time to address that tormented soul's troubles first, I wouldn't have faced the battle I'd been forced to wage.

I wouldn't have had an urn thrown at my head, of that I'm certain. Thankfully my reflexes had been enough to get me out of harm's way before my skull was permanently caved in.

However, my dodging wasn't nearly enough to keep me from injury when he'd sent Razor Wind my way.

Talk about a terrible way to discover that the man was a wind master in life.

And to top it off, while I'd been combating the wind and setting up a reflection barrier, he threw another urn at me.

I hadn't seen that one coming.

That had sparked our little scuffle, which ended with him finally calming and realizing that I was there to help him reunite with his now dead father in the Realm of the Dead. He'd been grateful for my assistance and had gone quite willingly.

It took only an hour of throwing ofuda, reflecting and diverting wind attacks and obliterating flying missile weapons to convince him that I was there to help.

I guess I should be thankful that Ise Jingu was willing to overlook the damages to their most sacred shrine and pay for my service of sending their troublesome spiritual resident to his final rest.

I was jostled out of my thoughts as the taxicab came to a stop. "We're here, kid," the driver grunted.

Stepping outside, I fought valiantly to keep my balance and find my wallet in my backpack as my vision decided to abandon me completely, the sudden act of standing up letting all the blood rush out of my head and leaving me dizzy beyond belief. After paying the man, I leaned over at the waist on what I assumed had to be the sidewalk and caught my breath.

I heard Hokuto-chan's bright voice long before my vision came back. It came right after the sound of a door opening flooded my senses.

"So I promise you I'll bring him tomorrow night. He should be done by then, and as you well know Ise's nearly an entire day by train," she was saying right before she gasped and squealed, "SUBARU!"

God, my head hurt. Her screeching from only a few feet away didn't help.

"Subaru-kun!" a softer tone rang, its quiet baritone quickly seeping into my ears. Warm arms surrounded me, pulling me upright and holding me with tenderness. I leaned into that welcoming warmth, finding myself against something tall and solid.

As my vision slowly returned, I found myself staring at a gray suit and a bright yellow tie with smiley-faces decorating it. Lifting my gaze, I managed a sheepish smile at the concerned face that hovered over me, hoping my cheer would be enough to put the concern in those golden-brown eyes behind those wire-rimmed glasses to rest. "Seishiro-san. I'm sorry I didn't arrive earlier."

"Subaru-kun," he said, his lips curling with a warm smile as he tightened his embrace, "you shouldn't have hurried so. Your dear sister told me what was happening."

"AND his dear sister told him not to rush. Shows how much he listens," Hokuto-chan accusingly snorted from beside me.

Turning my gaze, I gulped and grinned at her. "G-gomen, Hokuto-chan," I chirped.

"Mou," she huffed as she reached towards me with her delicate hand. Ruffling my hair, she scowled as her fingertips were stained dark crimson. "How badly did you get yourself hurt, Subaru?"

"Not bad," I attempted to lie.

Her eyebrow ticked.

Seishiro-san interrupted the oncoming volcanic blast that was threatening to burst from her small frame by starting to drag me towards the parking structure where he'd left his van, cheerfully saying, "Why don't we get him home and look him over, Hokuto-chan? Then we can have ice cream, Subaru-kun can do his homework, and we can watch that movie you wanted to catch on television tonight."

She was silent for a few moments before hopping right along side of him and giggling, "I guess you're right. No reason lecturing him about how terrible he is for not listening to his sister until I know how badly he disregarded me, neh?"

"Exactly!" Seishiro-san agreed.

They laughed merrily to one another as I bowed my head with a defeated groan, letting those warm arms around me steer me towards our destination.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

The room was quite dark, its only illumination coming from the brightly glowing red numbers on my alarm clock and from the street lamps outside of my heavily shaded window.

I had yet to fall asleep, regardless of the comfort of the situation I was in.

The bed was warm and soft as were the sheets and blanket I had drawn over myself. The bandages I'd been wrapped in were comfortably loose despite Hokuto-chan's attempt to punish me by binding me that evening. The warm breath of my bed partner skittered down my back.

Seishiro-san had convinced Hokuto-chan that he was simply going to stay the evening to watch over me and insure that there weren't going to be any complications from my encounter with the wild flying urns of Ise.

He'd been polite enough to take my condition into account and forgo our usual nighttime activities that came about when he managed to sneak into my residence without my sister's knowledge (or when I managed to slip into his without anyone catching me) and simply curl up with me, comforting me with his presence.

Yet even his arms wrapped around me and his breath upon my back wasn't enough to lull me into sleep.

Every time I closed my eyes, I saw those brilliant amethyst orbs again. They were haunting my dreams, hovering at the edge of my slumber, trying to convey a message I could not yet understand. And I couldn't bring my thoughts away from two nagging facts.

One – I still had homework left to do, and I was going to school tomorrow despite both Seishiro-san and Hokuto-chan's insistence that I stay home and recover. My stubborn nature was driving me back to my duties and responsibilities.

And two – the dreams of an onmyouji usually held importance. Either memories that would come to hold importance in the near future….

Or premonitions.

_to be continued..._


	2. Dragon's Roar

A/N 1: (sniggers) Apparently chapter 1 wasn't well received. Either the first reviewer has never read Tokyo Babylon or any of CLAMP News shorts and seen the potential buried in the works for manipulation, or thinks that her opinion is the only correct one in the universe so Subaru is obviously her domain and she knows exactly what's going on in his two-dimensional paper-and-ink head. (Hey, are you with CLAMP? If so (as you seemingly are, seeing as how you know exactly how Subaru should be portrayed), could you please enlighten us on what the detrimental ending of X is, seeing as how Kadokawa is being idiotic about publishing it? When are more 16 or 32 page installments of X coming out, seeing as how you need just a few more to complete the next tarot-card bearing volume? And how about the release date of Volume 19? That would be nice, too.) Heh. As for the AU part, didn't we freaking notice that in the warnings? (laughs hysterically) Flames from people who don't read the story or its warnings are always so damned amusing.

A/N 2: If you read this on my site, you'll notice it's heavily censored on ff . net. Site rules an all – for the dirty version, hit the link off my profile. It's in the 'Japanese Animation' archive, under 'Fanfiction' (duh). On ff . net, there will be ONE scene. Kind of unavoidable, as it's a pivotal point in the storyline as it's developed. For the rest of it… well, oh ye hentai-lusters, you know where to go.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: **Alternate timeline** (yes, that's alternate universe for the dense amongst us), Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Seishiro and Subaru cuteness yaoi moments, Hokuto-chan fashion fiascos, another small CSD insertion and the Power of God's Will in blue flannel pajamas with bunny slippers.

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

It had seemed that only a few moments ago I'd managed to close my eyes and not have those amethyst orbs that had been haunting my dreamscape since that train trip to Ise Jingu appear to bother me again when the alarm clock went off, its horribly loud buzzer rocketing through the peaceful slumber that had finally overcome me and wrenching me forcibly back into the world of the living. After the confused cloud that pounded my brain lifted with the realization that yes it was my alarm clock and not some horrible Doom's Day alerting system from a sixties movie, I reached for the nightstand by my bed with a blind, grasping hand. I swear I was going to hurl that thing across the room one of these days.

Another hand beat mine to that electrical torture device, lightly tapping the snooze button before picking the clock up off the little nightstand it was seated upon. "Where's that power button again?" a tired baritone voice muttered.

With a quiet sigh, I let my head return to the soft pillow it had been torn away from by that alarm clock's ability to scare the livid daylights out of me every morning. "It's on the side of the clock, Seishiro-san. You should know that by now," I grumbled against the slightly sun-darkened shoulder my lips were pressed against.

"Ah yes. There we are." A faint click met my ears, followed by the hollow plastic thump of my clock being set back into its place instead of being sent hurtling across the bedroom as I had intended it to be. "Going to take our advice and sleep in today, Subaru-kun?"

As his warm arms wrapped around me, I nearly gave into the urge to remain. Those arms were so inviting, that embrace so gentle, that I didn't want to leave it. To remain in his grasp all day, to let my throbbing head lay upon that pillow and let his warm breath brush against my beaten skull, to let the knots in my muscles be massaged away by his long, slender fingers once again as they had been pushed away last night, to let his bare flesh warm me throughout the day was almost too tempting of an offer to resist. Ah, but the responsibilities of school called. How was I ever going to meet my dream of being an animal handler if I couldn't even graduate high school?

A whimper passed through my throat as I attempted to slip out of his embrace. "I've got to get up, Seishiro-san," I grunted tiredly, trying to push his arms away despite my instinctual longing to pull them more tightly around my frame. "Please."

"Subaru-kun," he insistently breathed, pressing his lips against my neck and laying soft kisses along my flesh.

Damn that man. He knew exactly how to get to me.

I heard rather than willed the pleased groan flowing from my throat as the world darkened not due to injuries or loss of blood but due to the slow closing of my eyelids in irresistible pleasure. "Seishiro-san, please stop!" I pleaded, pushing against his arms. "I can't miss any more days this week. I've already got enough homework to last me into the weekend."

"But you need to recover," he whispered hotly against my skin, nibbling tenderly.

I couldn't help but to melt into his embrace, my eyes closed completely, my mind drifting on clouds of ecstatic glee as his hands roamed over my body, taking the utmost care to not stroke any of the wounds the wind master's spirit had imparted onto me the evening before as they traversed over my flesh.

I was aware of only one thing as his lips claimed mine.

It was six in the morning. I had only thirty minutes to shower and get the beginnings of an outfit on before Hokuto-chan would be here to molest my clothes and cook breakfast. I had little over an hour before I had to be at the bus station to catch my ride to Clamp Academy.

At the rate things were going, there was no way I would be getting to classes on time today.

With Seishiro-san stealing my motivation with every gentle kiss and each tender touch, there was no way I'd be able to get out of bed before Hokuto-chan arrived.

Realization washed over me, letting the spell my companion was weaving over me with his lips and his hands break. "Seishiro-san, Hokuto-chan will be here in half an hour. We'd better get up before she arrives, neh?"

He grunted in disappointment.

Part of me cheered in victory. I'd be allowed to get on with my responsibilities as I'd planned. Not even Seishiro-san could stop me. Shows those two who they're up against! My dear sister could call me a pathetic wimp all she likes – she still can't dominate me completely. If even Seishiro-san fails against me, there's no way she can win.

The other part of me was just as flooded with dissatisfaction as Seishiro-san was. He'd nearly completely eradicated my resolve to go to class in the few minutes he'd been servicing me. But duty was duty, whether for the family or for my own future plans. Damn it all.

Seishiro-san was looking me over when I finally opened my eyes to look at his face. His eyes were predictably less than enthused with my obvious resolve to break out of his embrace and go to school. However, that disenchanted look was washed completely from his face in a mere fraction of a second as a smile lit his lips and his eyes closed in chipper crests.

I took a moment to appreciate the difference in his physical appearance before he spoke. Not that Seishiro-san looked bad with his glasses on – quite the contrary, actually. If I were to ever call another man devilishly handsome, it would be him in his lab coat with his coy grin turning his lips and his eyes smiling behind his glasses lenses. But without them, he usually looked so… cruel. It was refreshing to see the bespectacled veterinarian I had come to so deeply care about without the mask of those glasses. It helped confirm that he wasn't hiding in an intricate lie.

At least, it seemed that way.

Hokuto-chan had already voiced her concerns about him. Indeed, her quietly murmured questions, whispered to me in the privacy of her apartment without him around to overhear us so many months ago, had only reflected what I already had pondered. That he was Sakurazuka. That he might have ties to the Sakurazukamori. That he might be that dread assassin himself.

The fact that he knew the Art and had revealed himself to be quite the capable onmyouji had me more than a little concerned for quite some time, though I do believe I had convincingly hidden my reservations about the quality of his character. And the business that had occurred with MCC Corporation, the MS Institute, the subway serial killer and those girls I had been forced to face over the Q2 Party Line system had me quite on edge for the longest of periods.

However, those moments when without the mask those glasses provided he had the same joy and laughter written across his features as he did when he was Seishiro-san the veterinarian…. Those moments were what had me overlooking the possibilities that were held in his name and his clan position and seeing him for the caring person he had the capability of being.

Even if he was the Sakurazukamori, he was still Seishiro-san. And Seishiro-san… I….

I care so deeply for him. He's my dearest companion. My best friend, next to my sister.

His voice drew me out of my contemplations. "You're right. I suppose we should get showered and dressed before dear Hokuto-chan catches us together in bed, neh? Else she'll very likely kill me for deflowering her brother."

I couldn't keep my cheeks from burning at his statement. "S-Seishiro-san, that isn't something to joke about!" I hissed.

Laughter bubbled from him as he gave me a tender hug. "I know. We must keep her from finding out for as long as we can, neh? After all, I wouldn't want to die by the hands of my future sister-in-law before our wedding!"

Burying my face into my pillow, I tried to keep my blush hidden and my whimpers quelled as he cackled manically and rose from the bed.

"Now where did I leave my underwear? Subaru-kun, did you see where I tossed it last night?"

I groaned. This was going to be a long, long morning.

But truly, I didn't mind.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

Seishiro-san was smiling cheerfully at me as I made my way into the kitchen, sitting at the counter in his wrinkled gray suit from the day before and the fuzzy white giraffe slippers that always are here for him. "Ohayo, Subaru-kun! So you actually made it out of your bed this morning, I see! And here I was thinking you were going to sleep the day away."

I blinked once, wondering where he was going with such a strange greeting. He knew I was going to get up. I was the one who had forced him to let me go so I could crawl off the mattress and pick out some clothing while he made use of my shower after finding his own clothes that he'd randomly discarded about my apartment.

Then I noticed what prompted his behavior – Hokuto-chan was already here and was in the process of making fresh pancakes for her 'grand special super western morning breakfast.'

And she was wearing a brown leather teddy over a white nearly transparent gauzy layered excuse for a flimsy mini-dress. With a cowboy hat to top it off.

Where she gets her ideas is so…. I think I'll never understand it.

Taking his greeting in stride after seeing that she was indeed present, I smiled and made my way to the chair by his side that sat opposite of that alien environment otherwise known as my kitchen. It was Hokuto-chan's realm, organized to her tastes, holding the foods she shopped for, and entirely off limits to me.

Yes, I was banished from my own kitchen. Something about a grease fire that nearly took out the family home a couple of years back lent itself as justification. Well, that grease fire in addition to the rather smoky mess I'd made out of a pot of macaroni I was making in this apartment.

Alright, a smoky and flaming mess.

The kitchen and I simply don't agree with one another. Other than my toaster which is more than safe thanks to the wards I carved into it after it attempted to electrocute me when I was prying my burning breakfast from its interior and the hot water spigot which has always liked me enough to let me make tea and ramen, I've been banned from utilizing the rest of the facilities. Well, the fridge has yet to do anything wicked to me. It happily chills the sodas I put into it. And it serves as a receptacle for Hokuto-chan's procured foodstuffs, a gallon of milk from time to time to make cereal with, and oddly enough a pack or two of cigarettes that Seishiro-san forgets in its depths.

Why he leaves his Mild Seven Selects in my refrigerator is far beyond me.

As I slid into my seat, I nodded. "Ohayo, Seishiro-san. Hokuto-chan."

Turning, she smiled brightly and waved to me with her spatula. "It's about time you crawled out of the shower, Subaru! I was about to give up any hope of seeing you this morning."

"I thought that's what you would have preferred," I teasingly stated as a smile crossed my lips.

"Oh, you better believe that's what I would prefer!" she spat, flicking her spatula in my direction sharply. "You need to recover, Subaru. After all, you _did_ manage to get hit with an urn. I'm surprised it didn't crack your skull!"

"It was a small urn."

"Subaru-"

"How about some tea?" Seishiro-san interjected, merrily smiling as he lifted his empty mug.

"Oh! Of course, Sei-chan!" Hokuto-chan brightly chirped, her smile radiant as she lifted his oversized Godzilla mug away and absconded with it. "Need some serious morning brew to get moving this morning, eh?"

"Well, spending my entire night making certain someone remained with us here in the world of the uncomatos didn't lend itself towards real decent sleep," Seishiro-san chuckled.

I had to cough to prevent myself from bursting with an accusatory statement or three at that remark of his.

Grinning at me, Seishiro-san nodded. "But as you can see, dear sister-in-law, my sacrifice was well worth it. Getting to be here to see his rare morning form is quite rewarding in of itself!"

I wanted to smack him.

Hokuto-chan was laughing, her voice like bright silvery bells as she returned the horribly large green Godzilla mug to Seishiro-san and placed a reasonably sized Sanrio mug in front of me. I stared at it for a few moments, allowing slight indignation with being served a Hello Kitty dish to wash over me before disregarding the playful nature of the cup and instead appreciating its contents. Ah, nothing like morning tea.

Seishiro-san was staring at my mug. "Neh Hokuto-chan, I don't recall him taking tea that strong any other time we've had it."

Hokuto-chan leaned over the counter, her smile refusing to leave her face as she grabbed Seishiro-san's smiley-face tie and wove it into a bow. "His wake-up juice. Three tea bags instead of one. Or a full heaping basket of leaves if you're using loose ingredients."

"Ah! Thank you for the information, Hokuto-chan! I'll have to remember that for after we get married!"

"Of course! After all, you're going to have to take up caring for his weird habits yourself, Sei-chan!"

My reply to their banter consisted of grumbling into my mug and nearly choking on the bubbles I swallowed.

As I drank, a plate with a pair of blueberry pancakes drowned in fresh blueberry syrup and topped with an over-medium egg was pushed in front of me.

Ah, Hokuto-chan's famous 'grand special super western morning breakfast.' Very, very difficult to resist. Especially difficult to resist when the last meal one has had was the student lunch at Clamp Academy two days ago.

Seishiro-san was busying himself with his own plate of goods as Hokuto-chan set out a platter towering with the remaining pancakes that had come off her griddle then vanished to leave us to breakfast. And thus was the race was on.

I don't know why, but many people assume that I deliberately starve myself. Contrary to popular belief, I don't intentionally not eat. I'm simply forced to skip meals from time to time. Fasting before a job helps my direction and my concentration. Discipline keeps my meditation from being interrupted by such small physical pangs as hunger. And with as often as I work; well, I do suppose my habits with meals surrounding my work ethics have contributed to the assumptions that so many people seem to have about my possible anorexia. Nary a day goes by when my classmates do not question me about my eating habits.

If only they understood how Hokuto-chan's cooking can ruin a person towards anything prepared by anyone else! With a sister dedicating herself towards the craft of being the perfect housewife and putting her skills into her culinary arts, it's difficult to find joy in eating anything other than the spectacular meals she makes. At least, it's difficult to find joy in eating anything in the range of meals we can afford, especially when we have her skill to measure such meals against.

Another assumption people make. My classmates all seem to think that just because we're Sumeragi, we're rolling in wealth. Perhaps the family is, but us? My work benefits the family accounts. We are given enough to buy food, pay rent and pay for transportation along with enough bonus money to keep me supplied with ofuda and Hokuto-chan in new clothes and accessories. And while we do have the clan credit card for emergencies, we know better than to utilize it frivolously. Grandmother would blow her top if she ever saw the credit card bills that Hokuto-chan and I both have dreamed of creating.

Anyway, the race. Hokuto-chan is an excellent cook. Seishiro-san has come to realize this over the many months he's been acquainted with us. And thus has this tradition started – whoever finishes their plate first gets first dibs on seconds, then thirds and so on until her work is thoroughly obliterated.

It makes Hokuto-chan happy. Hell, it makes everyone involved happy. She feels appreciated, and we get bellies full of what has to be Earth's most marvelous food. It's a win-win situation for all involved.

I was well into my second plate of pancakes (Seishiro-san was demolishing his third) when Hokuto-chan reappeared and proceeded to interrupt me. Ignoring my protesting squawk, she wrenched my hands away from my plate to shove them into the arms of the jacket she'd decided I was going to wear that day. No use arguing with her decisions. As long as it went with the khaki slacks and white dress shirt I'd already decided on, it was no big issue. Next up was the familiar feeling of having a tie thrown around my neck, followed by the flop of a hat being tossed onto my head. I reclaimed my fork and continued to eat as she busied herself behind me, reaching around my body to tie my tie and generally mangle my clothes.

By the time I put my fork down and relinquished the final pancake on the platter to Seishiro-san, she had already brought out her roll-about vertical mirror. Glancing over, I arched a brow.

Well, I still had my khaki slacks and my white dress shirt. Now I had a dark brown belt with an obnoxiously huge and eloquently sculpted silver belt buckle on it. I also had a dark brown sports blazer, the crest of Clamp Academy pinned neatly onto my lapel. My tie was tied into a Double Windsor for once – though the bottom of it was tacked with what had to be the tackiest silver tie-tack I've ever seen in my life, sculpted to match that gaudy belt buckle. I squinted as I stared at the paired articles and finally was able to determine that they were crafted to form a sprawling cross out of Celtic knots. She'd plopped a brown hat with a khaki accentuation ribbon atop my head. And she'd tossed dark brown leather gloves with matching Celtic designs done in tan suede onto my lap.

Ah well.

Taking the gloves in a black-gloved hand, I smiled at my sister before departing for the bathroom to put them on.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

It had been yet another long day at school. I swear those teachers were out to get me.

At least they were slightly more merciful towards my skipping school the day before and the lack of completion of my homework. Perhaps it was the hefty bandages still wrapped around my head and the slight crimson stain they sported from where I'd been an urn-target yesterday morning that lent towards their more or less forgiving attitude.

No, I didn't have any greater heap of homework in my already overloaded backpack. The homework packet my teachers had already assigned me remained entirely unaltered.

I'd managed to get a little of it out of the way last night before I passed out entirely. And when I'd woken up this morning, I'd discovered all of my untouched Anatomical Sciences homework had been completed.

Seishiro-san was going to receive a lot of thanks for that deed. His handwriting is so easy to identify. Such a sweet act, to help me while I was unconscious in shirking the stifling stranglehold my instructors had placed over me with their wicked homework!

Once again I was on the overcrowded bus – this time far away from the rowdy children who'd been inadvertently beating me the other day. No, this time they were left with a classmate of mine, Kyoshi, as their unsuspecting target.

And today there was much screaming as the fan went flying out of the window.

I wanted to say that it served the little blonde right, but that heartbroken look on his face….

"I'll acquire another for you, Nokuro! Don't worry about it!"

I'd not worry myself about it. Apparently the child who's been referred to as 'Akira' the other day had it well under control.

As the bus pulled up to the station, I waited calmly for everyone else to push his or her way to the exit. I'd managed to get a seat that time, and was in no hurry to get my still sore body jostled by the crowd. Razor Wind hurt. A lot. I wasn't exactly desperate to have every carefully bound wound on my body reopened by enthusiastic students trying to shove their way off of the bus.

Once the crowd dissipated, I made my way off. Shouldering my bag as I stepped free of the bus' confines, I sighed quietly.

Hokuto-chan was out shopping with a friend of hers this afternoon. She wasn't going to be there to walk with me on the way home. And Seishiro-san had already ordered me to head directly home, saying that he'd inoculate me if I dared to show up at the clinic in the condition I was in – he prescribed bed rest and homework in the comfort of my own apartment.

Who was I to argue?

It wasn't that long of a trek home. It was just going to be a lonely one.

While I wasn't overly excited about it, I began hastily nonetheless. Head bowed, I concentrated on the sidewalk as I trudged towards the apartment that served me as home. Why the sidewalk? Because I didn't want to trip over some obstacle I missed, that's why. I'm simply not as graceful as my sister. Cracks and rocks in my path sometimes still surprise me. It was thanks to such an obstacle that I met Seishiro-san….

Shaking my head to drive that recollection far from my mind, I let a small smile cross my lips. If it hadn't been for my clumsiness, we never would have encountered one another. Quite a coincidence.

Next thing I knew I was staggering back, a hand grabbing my backpack straps while the other instantly went to my hat to hold it in place. A startled cry escaped me even as it was echoed by what I'd run into.

Instantly I bowed in apology. "Sumimasen!" I cried out, head bowed.

I blinked.

The person I'd run into was dressed in blue flannel pajamas and white bunny slippers.

With a groan he hauled himself to his feet, muttering under his breath about this being twice since he awoke into this 'dream' that some weird kid with green eyes has had to run him over. Then with a small sigh, he said, "It's alright. Not the first time it's happened. But you should know that."

"Eh?" I asked as I straightened my position and looked at the person quizzically.

Eyes closed, the young boy who appeared to be approximately my age huffed. "You bowled me over two days ago, didn't you? At least you're being polite about it today."

I took a moment to study the young man, eyes quickly taking in his features. Wild black hair sweeping in long locks about and across his face and cropped short in back, long dark lashes pressed lightly against pale cheeks, slender build, slightly shorter than myself. I could swear that I'd seen those very features somewhere before, but I had no recollection of ever having met this person. And I knew I didn't run into him two days ago. I'd been on the train much of the day, and had actually avoided any embarrassing collisions while transferring between transportation vehicles at both stations I'd visited.

"You're mistaken," I cautiously began. "I didn't run into you two days ago."

"You did. I don't forget faces easily," he said with a huff, opening his eyes.

My breath caught in my throat as I stared at his face. Amethyst eyes….

Just like in my dream….

Quickly, my brain continued to churn and continue our conversation even as I was busily allowing myself to be stunned over the fact that the boy I had dreamed about the day before was standing in front of me in his pajamas and his slippers. "I can guarantee it wasn't me. Perhaps it was my sister."

"Your sister?" the boy's light voice replied, gruff doubt coloring its tone.

"Aa. We're twins, identical in all save gender"

That stalled any sarcastic reply that was trying to ebb its way out of his throat. He blinked once, then twice, before quietly muttering, "Oh. Sorry. Didn't mean to blame you so harshly, then."

"Quite alright," I said with a smile as I looked over him once more, only now starting to notice his condition. His pajamas were quite wrinkled, the left side of them covered with dirt. His bunny slippers were a far cry from white. And he smelled like….

"I don't mean to pry," I quietly began, my cheeks beginning to heat as an inevitable blush began to wash over me, "but you weren't sleeping…."

He looked away, his face already colored with embarrassment as he glared sourly at a cardboard box in the nearby alley. "Yeah, I'm sleeping over there. What of it?"

"Don't you have anywhere else to be?"

He sighed quietly. "No."

Oh for crying out loud. A sigh echoing his escaped me as I looked him over. "Neh, if you like you can come by my place and at least clean yourself up. Maybe make a phone call or two to see if anyone you might know is about and available to pick you up. Consider it an apology for both my sister and myself, ahem, 'bowling you over.'"

He blinked then stared at me. "You're asking a complete stranger to come to your house…?"

A grin took my lips. "I've no reason to fear strangers. I'm quite capable of protecting myself."

"Oh really?"

I blinked. Then I realized that he was probably staring at the bandages that were wrapped around my head. I sighed and honestly replied, "This happened at work. Nothing to do with strangers. As an onmyouji, I can defend myself if necessary."

"Onmyouji…" he whispered, his eyes suddenly springing open. He apparently recognized that profession. "Neh," he continued after a few stunned moments of silence passed by him, "what's your name?"

He certainly was forward. A small smile turned the corners of my lips as I politely bowed. "Sumeragi Subaru."

I almost expected him to do as all who recognized my profession did and defeat the depth of my bow with an overly respectful reply.

I wasn't expecting him to stare at me, his amethyst eyes blinking rapidly as tears gathered on his lashes and his jaw to fall open. "No… no way," he whispered softly. "Subaru? But you don't… you don't look like Subaru."

Blinking once, I stared at the boy. I wasn't aware that 'Subaru' was common enough of a name for him to know of another. And I knew Sumeragi wasn't a title carried by anyone with the first name of Subaru. I know every person in my clan.

"You're… you're really Sumeragi Subaru?" he softly asked.

I nodded.

"It's… it's me. Kamui."

Blinking, I arched a brow at him. I've an excellent memory when it comes to people I've met. And nowhere in my recollection was there a person named 'Kamui.' A legend of 'Kamui' was all that I knew, and that was one told to me by my Grandmother concerning the battles of the Dragons of Heaven and of Earth during the apocalyptic Promised Day under the directives of the 'Kamui' who was the deciding factor in Earth's ultimate fate – not concerning a boy with soft black hair, shining purple eyes and bunny slippers.

"Shiro Kamui," he clarified desperately. After a few longer moments of silence passed and I shook my head to indicate that no, I'd never met him before in my life, he whimpered softly, "You don't know me?"

I shook my head with one sharp clip, keeping my gaze warily on the boy.

"Then maybe it really isn't… maybe you aren't the Subaru I'm thinking of. After all, you don't look like him. But then again, how many Japanese have green eyes…?" He swallowed harshly, casting his environment one swift cursory glance before returning his stare to me. Looking deep into my eyes, he reached out tentatively with one hand and quickly following it with his other.

I couldn't move. I felt rooted to the spot I stood in, unable to break contact with those penetrating orbs. Maybe it was the fact that this was the boy I'd dreamed about that held me so still. Maybe it was the familiarity with which he murmured my name, forgoing the honorifics everyone save my dear sister attaches to it.

His hands were warm and soft though slightly grimy as he laid them upon my cheeks. As his fingers slid towards the bottoms of my eyes, I squinted. Reflex, of course. But apparently the change in the general shape of my eyes was enough to draw a startled gasp from him. Blinking once before managing to close his mouth, he hissed quietly. "Oh my God. It is you, isn't it…?"

I truthfully didn't know how to reply to his questioning. Remaining silent seemed my best option.

He continued after a few awkward moments of silence had passed between us. "Subaru… what year is it?" he whimpered even as the last of the blood that colored his flesh fled his face.

I stared at him. Was the boy mad? What was going through his mind?

Deciding it best to humor him, I frowned slightly and replied, "Nineteen Ninety. What other year would it be?"

"Nineteen Ninety…?" he echoed, his voice quavering.

I didn't have time to respond to his echoed disbelief. I was too busy lurching forward and catching his falling body in my arms to bother.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

Folding my hands together, I stared at the boy I'd laid out on my couch, my lips turned with a pensive frown.

Shiro Kamui had fainted after I'd told him that it was the year Nineteen Ninety.

Shiro Kamui was the boy I'd dreamed about on the train to Ise Jingu.

And now, Shiro Kamui was in my home.

I'd done what I could for the boy. He had new slippers sitting by the side of the couch. Granted they were a bit big, but they'd have to do. And I'd found a set of my sweats that he could wear once he'd awakened and showered.

After nearly an hour passed and as my Mathematics homework sailed towards its completion, the boy finally stirred and groggily sat up. "Where…?" he muttered, staring with confusion at his surroundings.

"My apartment. I couldn't just leave you unconscious in the streets, Shiro-kun," I replied, a smile taking my lips as I put my pencil down. "If you like, the shower's at the end of the hall. You can keep those sweats if you like."

He slowly sat up, holding his head. "And here I was thinking I'd wake up."

I arched a brow at him, my smile falling away. "You said that before. That you thought you were in a dream."

He blinked, turning a questioning gaze my way.

"After I collided with you. You had proclaimed that it was the second time in your 'dream' that you were run over by a green-eyed kid."

"You remember that?" he questioned.

A modest shrug moved my shoulders. "Good memory," I clarified. Actually it was rather photographic. Perhaps that's why the lapses in my mind's recollections have been bothering me for years, and why an event seven years complete constantly replayed itself in my dreams. "But before we talk about that-"

"Aa," he quietly interrupted as he gathered the sweats I'd found for him into his thin arms. "Arigato," he remembered to utter before shuffling off to the bathroom.

Nearly an hour later he emerged into the main room again, sheepishly slipping his feet into my extra slippers. Now dressed in dark gray sweatpants and a matching sweatshirt that hung baggily on him and pink pig slippers (well, I was wearing my black ones. The pig slippers by my bed were the only spares I had.) on his feet, he slid onto the couch once more. "Um, where's your laundry bin?"

Smiling, I rose from my seat. "You left your pajamas in the bathroom?" As he nodded, I went to fetch them and take care of them. No doubt about it; he'd spent two days in those clothes and had slept in that alley. Dusty. Yick.

I couldn't help but feel sorry for him as I opened the small door that stood behind the swinging door that lead into the bathroom to reveal the upright washer/dryer combination unit. Tossing his clothes into the washer with a good heap of detergent, I started the machine and walked back out to the main living room to seat myself once more on the cushion I'd set across from the couch.

He was staring at his folded hands as I looked him over.

My smile deepened slightly. The young man was quite handsome, especially when cleaned up.

What the hell was I thinking! I have Seishiro-san. I have Seishiro-san, who was likely to be over later. I don't need to be thinking about this boy I'd dreamed about and how much better he looks when actually clean. Gah!

His voice shattered my thoughts. "Thanks again," he said quietly.

"No problem, Shiro-kun," I replied with a nod. "So, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Not at all," he quietly murmured, staring at his hands.

"Where are you from?" I began.

"Tokyo."

Boy, that helped. "What district?" I pushed quietly.

"Look, if you're thinking to return me to where I belong, I'm telling you it's not going to work."

I arched a brow, my smile falling away at his small outburst. "Why not?"

"Because… this is a dream."

"Why do you keep saying that?"

Shiro-kun shook his head. "Because this isn't supposed to be Nineteen Ninety. This is supposed to be Nineteen Ninety Nine."

My eyes widened of their own accord. Nineteen Ninety-Nine…?

"It's supposed to be the end of the summer of Nineteen Ninety Nine. Approaching the Promised Day."

"How do you know about the Promised Day!" I burst without thought, nearly coming off of my cushion.

He stared at me, his face filled with shock. "You don't know…?"

I blinked. And as remnants of my dream from the trip to Ise washed over me, I felt my face pale.

Matching dragons, both flooded with impossible power.

Blue dragons.

Dragons of Heaven.

"I'm 'Kamui,'" he uttered, his voice flooded with sadness.

The memories of that dream had me stunned into silence.

All I could remember was that matching dragon, that amethyst eyed boy at its base.

All I could hear was the dragon's roar.

_tbc..._


	3. The Boy on the Couch

A quick bout of review replies:

Feather-chan: Eh heh heh… would spoil a tiny bit here, but I don't plan on changing the past too direly. (dodges people who wanted her to beat the tar out of Sei-chan with ye auld Power of God's Will) Aiiii! (runs) Anyway, I hope this one's a tiny bit unique. Not certain if it will be. But damn it all, it's fun to write! (whines on and on and on until distracted by her television) Xenosaga! Ooo! (and the muses collectively slap their foreheads, aghast at her gnat-like attention span)

Tankyasu: Ah, thanks for the criticism. His flamboyant innocence is something I at times have a hard time grasping, and at other times am completely against – after all, as TB takes place over the span of a year, who's to say that he remained perfectly innocent that entire time? Who's to say it isn't, to some small effect, an act? (demonic giggle) I know plenty of people like that – precious and sweet and oh so pure to the general populous, and actually anything _but_ underneath it all. Not that I intend to go that far with Subby. Will try to reflect more on his 'I stammer like a parrot screams when molested' self, though. (nodnod) Thanks for continuing to read, in spite of my character flaws – what can I say? I'm not CLAMP. I didn't create the spastic angst-monkey. (smirk) It's hard to get in the head of a two-dimensional construct of ink and paper, after all. Just no room in his wee flat skull!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Kamui-chan angsting as usual, random Sumeragi household lunacy, and Seishiro cuddling and pillow-talking (lemon removed, will be posted on ye auld webpage when I get around to updating that decrepit thing).

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

'Kamui.'

The Power of God's Will. The 'Kamui' of the Dragons of Heaven, directly opposed to the twin star 'Kamui' of Earth, He Who Hunts God's Will.

The Power of God's Will was sitting on my couch…?

As unbelievable as it seemed, I couldn't bring myself to refute the boy's claim. Not when that dream I'd had pointed towards the same conclusion as that he'd just given me. Not when I'd seen him and his true spiritual makeup, when I'd heard the roar that echoed across my dreamscape, when I could reach with my own aura and without extending my senses feel the raw power dripping from him.

Trying to calm the racing of my heart, I folded my legs underneath myself and sat a bit more properly on the cushion. "'Kamui.' But…."

"But?" he murmured, looking at me with those penetrating amethyst eyes of his.

"You're clearly a Dragon of Heaven," I softly clarified. "Meaning that you've made your choice."

"Aa."

"And that happens in the year Nineteen Ninety-Nine."

"Aa," he said again with a nod.

"And where are you supposedly during this time?"

He didn't bother reading the suspicion in my voice, and instead answered me quickly and with a tone of honesty that I couldn't begin to question, "If this is really Nineteen Ninety, I'm… God, I'm only six years old. That means that Mother has yet to take me to Okinawa. So we're by the shrine where Aunt… Aunt Saya and…"

I arched a brow, silently urging him to continue.

"Mr. Monou. And Kotori. And Fuuma…."

As he crumbled, my drive to push him with questions followed his resolve to answer. While he sat on my couch staring at his hands and harboring tears in his lackluster eyes, I rose from my seat and went instead to get us some tea.

It was the least I could do.

He was grateful when I returned and silently offered him a mug. Lifting it from its saucer, he sipped delicately from it and sighed. "Arigato," he whispered.

"Don't mention it," I replied before taking a long draught from my own cup.

A few minutes passed while he calmed himself and drank tea before he continued, "Tokagoshi Shrine. I should be in the neighborhood. We lived a couple houses down from the Shrine itself. That was where the Monou family lived."

I nodded. Certainly I'd have to check the area in the next few days to verify Shiro-kun's statement. "And where are you supposed to be in Nineteen Ninety-Nine?"

He blinked a few times before answering, "I'm living at Clamp Academy. Imonoyama-san's Manor."

"You're living with the campus director?"

Shiro-kun nodded. "Nokuro invited us to stay there because it's warded against the threat of the Dragons of Earth and it's kind of a safe haven until the Promised Day."

My eyes widened. Nokuro? The only Imonoyama Nokuro I knew was…

Oh God. What's the world coming to when that little blonde kid that smacks people on the bus every day with his fan is the future director of Clamp Academy?

Given the school mascot, though, I do suppose it's fitting. Hmph.

"I… see. You said 'us.'"

"Most of the others live there too. Sorata, Arashi, Yuzuriha and…."

"And?" I pressed on.

"You."

A frown caught my lips. Me? Living at Clamp Academy? When I should be, what, twenty-five?

If I was at Clamp Academy….

Where was….

"How much do you know about each of us?" I asked, my eyes narrowing slightly.

"What do you mean?" he innocently chirped.

"You know anything about me?"

Bowing his head, he looked away. "A bit. I know what you were willing to share about yourself when you saved me from the bottom of my soul."

God, my head was swimming. The boy was talking about supposedly future events in past tense. Events that either had to be falsified or truly occurrences that had yet to happen, as I had absolutely no recollection of them. Geez.

"You told me about your sister. About how she wasn't an onmyouji like you. And a little bit about your ties with the Sakur-"

"Stop," I bit.

He instantly silenced. Staring at me with wide eyes, he blinked.

I didn't want to hear what he'd just said. I didn't want to believe what he'd just said.

'Your ties with the Sakurazukamori.'

I knew whom he meant. I knew instinctively that this wasn't some person I'd be meeting in the future that had yet to become a known to me.

My mind spun wildly about everything he'd already said and everything he'd unintentionally revealed.

I was staying at Clamp Academy with him and three other Dragons of Heaven, hiding from those who fought for the preservation of Earth over humanity. I, who would have no reason to fear them, who has the ability to ward myself through onmyoujitsu, was remaining within the wards of another person. Something I wouldn't do normally – I know other people can craft decent wards and I don't usually doubt their validity, but I've encountered too many poorly crafted barriers and flawed safety nets to trust any other than my own. If I was going to stay in a warded area, it would be my own home here in Shinjuku or at the Sumeragi household in Kyoto.

But instead I was staying at Clamp Academy. Meaning my time in Shinjuku was done.

And he hadn't mentioned Hokuto-chan when he'd gone through his list of names of people he was staying with. Just me.

That coupled with his proclamation that he knew about my sister made my heart sink into my stomach. I told him something about my sister at the bottom of his soul.

When people go to the bottom of their hearts, experience has proven that such is because they're escaping the tragedies of life, running from reality. One of the proven ways to free them from the prisons they unintentionally weave about themselves is to show them that they're not alone and that there are people waiting for them back in the world of the living who would be sad if they were to leave us behind.

"How long had I know you… before I dove…?"

Shiro-kun's voice stammered slightly in fright. Fright? Was I truly frightening him with the sincerity of my tone? Or did he know what I was thinking, and he was afraid of telling me the conclusion of my questioning? "It… It was actually the first time we met," he whimpered quietly.

The first time we'd met.

At the bottom of his soul.

I'd met him in the wake of tragedy and for some reason had told him about Hokuto-chan.

Tragedy….

Hokuto-chan….

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

He had been silent ever since we'd ended our conversation. I'd already washed the mugs we'd used for tea and turned on the television to watch the evening news as I finished my math homework and began to read my Literature assignment.

Glancing back at him for the first time since the conclusion of his interrogation, I exhaled softly.

Shiro-kun was still sitting on the couch, staring miserably at his folded hands.

He hadn't wanted to upset me and was regretting doing so quite terribly. I could gather that much from his morose position.

With an audible sigh, I rose from my seat before the television and walked over to him. Setting my hands on either side of him, I smiled gently. "Hey."

He sniffed once and lifted his head.

Why did my heart clench so to see tears marring his cheeks?

Reaching up with a finger, I brushed the wet droplets from his cheeks. "Don't be so upset. I'm sorry I snapped earlier, Shiro-kun," I offered. "I simply overreacted to what you were implying with your words."

He sniffed miserably. "Gomen."

"Neh, how about… we simply don't bring it up from now on?"

"What do you mean, 'from now on?'" he questioned softly as he wiped his nose, keeping those sad eyes staring deeply into my own. "I thought you'd be sending me on my way."

"Well, you have no place to go, do you?"

"No," he sighed as he shook his head, lowering his gaze once more.

"So you can stay here," I told him, putting my hands on his shoulders. "That is, if you wish to."

His gaze instantly snapped up to stare into my eyes once more. "You… you're letting me stay here?"

"Why not? You've yet to show me a reason to distrust you."

He arched a brow. "Even though I'm… well, in retrospect, I guess I wouldn't blame you for not believing me at all and thinking I'm some sort of a loon…."

"Whether I believe you or not has yet to really be determined. I'm going to be following up on that claim of yours as to where you're living," I clarified, seriousness filling my voice before I smiled and brightly continued, "but until I find any falsehood in what you've said, you're welcome to stay. After all, Hokuto-chan doesn't live here, so there's plenty of room."

"She doesn't?"

"No, she has her own apartment. Granted she's next door…."

His face brightened considerably.

"So cheer up, alright?" I encouraged, gathering him into my arms and granting him a lighthearted, comforting hug.

He nodded, pressing his nose into the crook of my shoulder and neck as he clenched his arms tightly around me. "Arigato, Subaru."

It was at that moment that the doorbell rang wildly just moments before the door burst open.

"HOKUTO-CHAN HAS ARRIVED!"

Turning and releasing Shiro-kun as his hands flew away from me and he nearly jumped out of his own skin at the sudden shout, I smiled brightly. Leave it to my sister to make an entrance that's impossible to ignore.

Standing in my doorway in her supremely bright pink regal gown who's skirt seemed to be made entirely of individual hoola-hoops bound together by cloth, she tugged once at the huge fur ruffle that circled her neck before tossing a handful of confetti into the air. As it sparkled around her, she strutted in and flopped the grocery bag she'd been hiding behind her back into my entryway before kicking off her fur-lined pink heels and slipping on like-colored soft slippers with white fuzzy puffballs centered in bows decorating the front of them.

"Ah, let me get that for you," I responded automatically, hurrying to take the bag she had left for me. "How did your shopping trip go?"

"Absolutely fabulously!" she giggled brightly as she lifted the furry hem of her dress and stepped lightly towards the kitchen. "I found three new outfits for me, four for you, a new pair of sexy black gloves you've GOT to try on tonight, a pair of ties for Sei-chan…"

As she continued, I couldn't help but grin despite the desperate sigh that tried to battle its way up my throat. She's blown her monthly allowance again, I was more than willing to bet. Food would be on my tab until the next month rolled around.

"And we're going to be having… neh, who's that?"

I blinked as the sudden shift in her tone and her conversing hit me. "Ah, Hokuto-chan, allow me to introduce you." Carrying the bag of groceries with me, I led her by the elbow to the couch. "Hokuto-chan, this is Shiro Kamui. Shiro-kun, Sumeragi Hokuto, my twin sister."

He was staring with unabashed astonishment. "So you're Hokuto…?"

"Hm. A friend of yours that I've yet to meet? Just how many of these surprising little relationships are you keeping from me, Subaru?"

I retreated to the kitchen, looking at Hokuto-chan intently, willing her to follow.

She and I have always shared such an understanding. She knew my wishes immediately and followed without question.

Once in the kitchen, we hovered towards the wall farthest from the living room and quietly whispered to one another. "I just met him today, actually."

"You just met him today?" she asked, a bit of worried hysteria in her voice. "So why is he in your house? In your sweats?"

"He doesn't have anywhere else to go-"

"Subaru," Hokuto-chan snorted, her voice dropping, "he's not a stray dog. You can't keep him."

"I didn't intend for it to be that way!" I shot back. "It's…"

"It's what, Subaru?"

"I dreamed about him."

She was silent for a few moments, her eyes widening slightly. She, like Seishiro-san, understood the importance of dreams.

"Neh, you left the rest of your groceries out in the van! I was wondering if you were ever going to return for them."

We both jumped and shrieked, completely startled out of our wits.

"Seishiro-san!" I gasped.

"Sei-chan!" Hokuto-chan screeched, "Don't do that! God, do you want your future sister-in-law to drop dead of a heart attack?"

An innocent laugh left his lips as he walked over and put the remaining two grocery bags Hokuto-chan had abandoned to the van onto the counter before pulling up a chair and smiling. "Sorry about that. So, what's this interesting little secret conversation about? Can I join in?"

"It's about that boy," Hokuto-chan offered.

I stared as Seishiro-san's eyes instantly narrowed slightly. He knew, also. So I wasn't completely off my rocker when I thought I'd sensed what I'd sensed. "Oh, yes. Interesting boy. Wherever did you find him, Subaru-kun?"

I held my head. What was it about me that made those two refer to everyone I held relations with as if they were stray puppies I'd found?

Not that it was too far from the truth in Shiro-kun's case, but still!

"He was wandering the streets."

"And you took him in?" Seishiro-san pushed.

"He did!" Hokuto-chan offered before I could even open my mouth. "And just how much do you know about him, Subaru?" she questioned, turning her attention lightning-quick back to me.

"I…."

"You should really answer the question, Subaru-kun," Seishiro-san said, his voice serious and soft. "It's a rather dangerous thing to take in strangers such as that without knowing anything about them."

God, he really had sensed what the boy was. What he claimed.

The power of _the_ Dragon of Heaven. The power of the 'Kamui.'

Clearing my throat, I leaned towards Hokuto-chan and Seishiro-san and sighed. "Look. I know this sounds really strange and stupid, but… he claims to be from the Tokyo of Nineteen Ninety-Nine."

"He's from the future?" Hokuto-chan asked, her expression dropping from concerned to disgusted disbelief, eyes flat and bored as if she'd heard that excusable story a million times before.

"Aa. That's what he says, at least."

"And you believe him?" my sister pushed.

"I've found no reason not to."

She slapped her forehead soundly.

Obviously Hokuto-chan didn't follow in my trust. Was I being blithe and obtuse to believe him? A sigh escaped my lips as I turned my attention to Seishiro-san, fearing I'd see the same expression on his face and the same accusatory look in his eyes berating me for being so silly.

I didn't see what I'd expected. Instead, he was staring intently at the living room and scratching his chin, his eyes narrowed and pondering the possibilities. "Don't be so quick to write off the boy's claims, Hokuto-chan," Seishiro-san quietly stated.

"Nani nani?" she questioned, leaning over the table and laying her hand on my shoulder. She stared into the room as Seishiro-san did, her eyes narrowed. "Why do you say that?"

"Because there's something about that boy that's entirely out of the ordinary."

"So you believe he's from the future?" she blandly snorted.

"I don't entirely abolish the possibility. Subaru-kun's right to keep an open mind, especially so far as that boy is concerned."

"So you approve of him taking in that kid?" she pushed.

"Perhaps it's best to keep him where we can carefully watch him," Seishiro-san said, his eyes narrowing with something close to menace in their depths. "A person such as him shouldn't be left to wander unobserved."

We all sat silently for a few moments before Hokuto-chan took a bag and began unpacking its contents. As assorted vegetables were placed on the counter, she sighed. "Alright. So I'll have to cook for four tonight." A chipper smile sprang to her lips. "Hokuto-chan will rise to the challenge! We'll see if I can win HIM over as well!"

As her laughter rang through the kitchen, I allowed a relieved smile to come across my lips. One down.

Seishiro-san visibly relaxed as Hokuto-chan's silvery laugh continued and the clanking of pots and pans being shuffled rang along with it. Smiling, he turned to me. "So what's his name? Or should I continue to call him 'that boy' for all the time he remains here?"

"Mm. Shiro Kamui," I replied.

He blinked. "'Kamui,' eh?"

I nodded.

As one, we turned back towards the living room.

"Very interesting name. Very, very interesting indeed," Seishiro-san quietly said.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

Dinner was quite an event that evening. It had started off with a considerable jolt of warning after I'd introduced Shiro-kun to Seishiro-san. The pure violence in those amethyst eyes and the hiss of his voice as he whispered my name and asked me to follow him into the living room was enough to put me entirely on guard.

Yes, the boy resonated the aura of a Dragon of Heaven. But that in of itself doesn't make him automatically deserving of my trust.

He'd questioned me about Seishiro-san. He'd asked about our relationship. When he started pressing me about whether or not I knew who he really was, I told him to keep his knowledge of the future to himself and not reveal any of it as doing so may have detrimental effects on his time.

After all, alter the past and the knowledge held by those in the past and you'd alter the future. Alter the future and you destroy the set path you followed to get there. It was a theory I was well familiar with and fascinated with. Indeed, one of my papers last year for my Analytical Thinking class had been about the concept of time travel and why it couldn't logically function without complete dissolution of the space-time continuum itself.

Shiro-kun frightened me when he chirped that perhaps that's why he was in 'our' time as he persisted in calling it. The thought of changing the future seemed to brighten him considerably. And when I told him that indeed it might not only alter the future but might even go so far as to alter the people of the future, he'd looked directly at me and said one word – "Good."

What was it about me in the future that made him so desperate to change the past?

Or was what I had begun to ponder during our initial interrogation….

God, I pray not.

He reluctantly agreed to put the future behind him, so to speak, at my continued request. His knowledge would be kept to himself, where it belonged.

After agreeing to such, I also informed him that while Seishiro-san might be who he accused him of being, he was first and foremost welcome in my home and he was a dear friend to me.

I'd caught myself before I had told Shiro-kun that I wouldn't let him drive the one who was slowly becoming irreplaceably and irrefutably special to me from my home.

However, I believe Shiro-kun knew what I had truly intended to say. He'd looked at me, hope fleeing his eyes, and whimpered, "You already… I'm already too late, aren't I?"

Too late to change the future as he wished? I was already what?

He was going to drive me absolutely insane before the week had ended.

Laying my hand on his shoulder, I sighed and told him to come back into the dining room and leave his misgivings behind. Leave the future where it belongs – in the future. Take the present for what it is.

He'd reluctantly followed me back, and had very solemnly apologized to Seishiro-san.

Thankfully Seishiro-san quickly accepted his apology and gave my guest nothing less than his warmest of smiles even as he pulled a chair up for the young man to place him on my other side.

Then Hokuto-chan had served dinner.

Have I mentioned how fabulous her cooking is?

Shiro-kun had stared at us with amazement as Seishiro-san and I tore into our meal with vigorous appetites and Hokuto-chan giggled brightly and proclaimed that it was yet another fabulous original creation that had gone off quite well. Then he carefully sampled his own plate.

It didn't take him more than a mouthful to mimic us in trying to beat everyone else for seconds.

Thirty minutes and two emptied pots later, we were leaning back in our chairs as Hokuto-chan spooned the last of her soup into her mouth. "A spectacular success, Hokuto-chan!" Seishiro-san congratulated.

"Ah, arigato Sei-chan!" she returned, her smile brilliant.

I gave her a passing pat on her head as I gathered the dishes into the sink. "Thank you for the delicious dinner, Hokuto-chan."

She grinned right before she screeched. "ACK! You – OUT! You know you're not allowed in the kitchen! Sei-chan, YOU get in here to do the dishes!"

We both automatically bowed our heads and simultaneously replied, "Haaaaaai."

Shiro-kun was invited to stay and help Seishiro-san dry, which he reluctantly did. His eyes did follow me until I vanished from the dining room, though.

Sitting down on the couch, I gathered my homework in my hands and flipped through it, spot-checking my math and rereading my paper for Literature to gather my thoughts once more. I'd already copied my Anatomical Sciences homework from the pages Seishiro-san had written out for me.

My thoughts refused to remain on my schoolwork. All I could think of was that this was certainly going to be interesting, having Shiro-kun staying in my home. At least staying until we could verify whether or not his claim of being from the future was true.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

"God, I thought he'd never fall asleep," I softly whispered against my warm pillow.

Tanned arms encircled me and squeezed me gently. "Mm. Thankfully he beat you into slumber. Now tell me, Subaru-kun. Why did you insist I stay tonight when you should be resting yourself?"

A soft laugh escaped my lungs as I crawled along his chest through the tunnel his arms created to reach his lips with my own. Capturing his mouth in a tender kiss, I pressed my arms along either side of his head, flattening the pillow he was using. "Because I want to thank you for doing my homework for me," I replied, laying down fully on him.

"Subaru-kun…" he whispered, a smile crossing his lips as he broke his embrace to lift one hand and nimbly brush it over my hair. Lightly tracing his fingertips along the bandages I still wore, he closed his eyes. "Silly. You should be trying to recover."

Pressing down onto him, attempting to absorb his warmth in the chill of the night air, I chuckled. "I am recovering. I certainly didn't get hurt where it matters."

"Everything that's you matters."

My heart raced in my chest. He truly said the most precious things when we were alone. Not the silly or perverted proclamations he made when Hokuto-chan was around or the laughable romancing he attempted when we were in public, but truly beautiful confirmations that what he so vocally stated amongst others was indeed true.

"Seishiro-san," was all that came to my mind and my lips as I laid my head beside his, my eyes closing as I fought off the dizziness that threatened to overcome me as blood rushed to my beaten skull.

Turning on his side, Seishiro-san lightly ran his hand along my side, his fingers making my flesh tingle as they came to rest on my hip. "Subaru-kun," he replied in turn, his lips turned in a delectable smile as he pressed his body closer to mine.

A deep breath raced through my lungs, coupling with the rapid stammer of my heart. I wanted him so terribly….

I've read stories and watched movies where the before-bedding preamble lasted page upon page, minute upon minute. It's never been that way between Seishiro-san and myself. Perhaps because I took so long (nearly an entire year – I know of people who give themselves to one another after their first _date_ (not that we've had many of those, no matter how much Seishiro-san would object to that statement! He proclaims that every time we're together it's a _date_. The humanity of it all.) and would consider the length of time it took for me to crack open my shell and Seishiro-san to leap at the opportunity I granted him an abnormality) to come to terms with my own longings and desires, and his had existed since… well, I don't know when they'd initially formed, but they were already well developed when I'd abandoned my reservations about the possibilities of same-gender relationships and my resolve to deny this person I was beginning to truly care for what he wanted and what I was exceedingly curious about. But perhaps it was because I'd taken so long getting past my inhibitions that we hurried to the actual sex involved in our sparse, rare encounters.

They say sex doesn't have to be an expression of love, after all. I believe that. I believe that one can have sex for sex's sake, can utilize it as a tool, or can use it as a weapon if necessary. I believe that it can be a confirmation of emotion and the deepest giving of friendship that can occur between two people.

It wasn't friendship so far as Seishiro-san was concerned. It was something deeper. Something more.

Something that was just shy of love. I still wasn't certain my feelings for him were that.

But my pure curiosity and the depth of my caring for him had opened me to the possibilities, and for that I am forever grateful. It has been one of the most pleasurable experiences of my life, those few times when we've actually indulged.

Opening my eyes, I found my trailing recollection of how we'd come to arrive at the point we were at disrupted completely.

I could only stare into those beautiful golden orbs that gazed so serenely into my own eyes.

A chuckle rumbled through his chest, lightly jostling my bangs. "I should be going."

"So soon?" I whimpered, looping my arms around him. I really didn't want him to leave….

"What will Shiro-kun say if I'm tromping out of your room when he wakes up tomorrow morning?"

But he did have such a viable point.

"I'm coming to the clinic tomorrow evening."

"What about your young guest?"

"He can come with me."

Seishiro pressed his lips once more to the top of my head. "Then I'll see you tomorrow, Subaru-kun."

"Aa."

As he held me into the night, the stresses and worries of the day melted into the purest and most peaceful of sleeps I could have.

I'd initially been worried that the haunting thoughts Shiro-kun's words had imparted to my overwrought imagination would be destined to stay with me into the night and prevent me from sleeping soundly. That I'd be going over his sentences over and over and over again, trying to discern all of the hidden meanings and innuendoes in them. That I'd be trying to put together the puzzle of what exactly had happened to Hokuto-chan and what had occurred between Seishiro-san and myself in the sad future he claimed to have hailed from. However, the troubling thoughts Shiro-kun had brought to me, the horrible stack of homework that had yet to be completed, all faded into the darkness of slumber.

As I fell away from the waking world, there wasn't one thought in my mind of the boy on the couch.

_tbc..._

A/N: Just a small clarification. Some people may have flailed at how open and trusting and touchy Subaru was being with Kamui (and perhaps vice versa), and how that's directly inverse of how Subaru was during Tokyo Babylon (and how Kamui's portrayed in the anime). I'd like to take a moment to point out the X manga. Subaru hasn't much changed so far as his introversion is concerned nine years in the future. He doesn't touch anyone, offer comfort to anyone, and is very difficult to yank conversation out of (let's see, he talks to Sorata when he's high on morphine in the hospital (and that conversation whirls about Kamui and how the poor boy is blaming himself and hasn't slept and angst angst angst). He offers Fuuma a few curt sentences when he's 'Seishiro-sanning' at the Sakurazuka house. He offers the most terribly brief explanation of what he's doing when he's preparing to prance about in Kamui's comatose skull to the DoH crew, leaving the mass of the explanation to Exposition!Sorata. Other than that… a couple shouts at Fuuma and Nataku to leave Kamui alone when fighting them, silent and moody glowers, etc. And a sentence and a glance when Fuuma talks to him after he watches Nataku become pasty-bits while defending Karen.).

Now look at the rest of Subaru's appearances. When he speaks, it's almost exclusively to Kamui. And despite the fact that Kamui 'do(es)n't know (him) at all' when they first meet, they're grabby-hands and huggy all over one another. Fangirls every scream as the yaoi-ness of it oozes out of the pages.

Despite them having no real clue about one another beside the fact that Kamui is the ever-so-vital 'Kamui' of the DoH and Subaru is one of the Seals that will help him, they're all over one another like PB&J on bread. A five-minute conversation in the depths of Kamui's skull ends in hugs and gushiness with many CLAMP sparkles. A battle that ends in the loss of an eye ends up in more hand-grabbing and 'let-me-be-your-uke' symbolism than anything ever drawn in Tokyo Babylon, along with delicate smiles and face-petting. Moments alone in bedrooms end in close-up 'let-me-bury-my-nose-in-your-bangs' tie tying (and they're alone in Kamui's bedroom? WTF goes my little brain, along with loud laughter at what can be construed by the sick and demented like myself). Other moments alone in bedrooms feature 'your-knee-is-soft' attentions and more grabby-hands and face-petting.

There's so much 'innocent' (VIOLENT COUGH) touching between Subaru and Kamui, even with the Sumeragi-brat supposedly being as (if not more) introverted in X than he is in Tokyo Babylon, that I felt completely justified in having some of that contact reflected here.

Problems? Give me a critical, well-thought-out review. Please remember that I base everything off the manga, not the twitchy-eye anime that deviated so severely halfway through volume six that I screamed in horror and tried to beat myself to death with my beer bottle. No Sakurazukamori!Subaru? I cry in pain. In pain, I tell you! But as I was saying, flame and I ignore you and remove you from those people who're allowed to slather my fics with your hate. Critically and thoughtfully review, and I'll try my damnedest to accommodate you within my abilities and my vision for my fics.

And as always, thank you for reading! Sorry this note was so long, but I love to ramble. :)


	4. Saturday Evening

Review replies:

Kamui Gaia 07: Oh, you didn't offend me! I'm sorry if I came off as snappish. It's just that I KNEW there'd be questions as to how I justified my portrayal of the characters, and before I had another person flail 'OOC' at me I'd break out ye auld manga and its plethora of evidence as to the familiarity between Kamui and Subaru, even from the onset. I know that the anime was more than a little lacking in its full portrayal of the characterization accomplished by CLAMP in its drawn odyssey. I can't blame you for quizzically scratching your head if the anime is all you've had exposure to! I, personally, rather disliked the anime – of course, I've been painstakingly translating X from its Asuka releases for years and jumping like a hyperactive child on the domestic release ever since that was started. :) A ten-year incomplete story, brought to a screeching halt by Kadokawa. Makes me want to slaughter publishers.

LadyofTheBlackWings: Thank you for your support! First person POV's a challenge, but actually rather fun. I'm glad you like the story!

Feather-chan: Heh, it would've been rather hilarious if Kamui HAD blasted Seishiro halfway across Tokyo, wouldn't it:) However, in the interest of not incurring the wrath of the Sakurazukamori with his many many ofuda and nasty mariboshi with eagle-heads and OMG BLACK DARKNESS (thanks, CLAMP, for making things obvious at all times), it couldn't occur. Hope you like this chapter! French fries. Yum.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Arcades, McDonald's, pinball machines, and original characters at Clamp Academy.

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

I've always hated the way morning comes to me.

Artists and authors always paint the most beautiful descriptions of night's death in their works. Lovely sunrises painted lavishly over lush flora and fauna coated plains with tall and stately mountains erupting in the background to provide a cut distinction of the horizon, long shadows spilling across their rocky expanses. The wonderfully described songs of merry birds gaily greeting the rising day star and saying their farewells to the heavy curtain that coats the earth in its dark black shades pierced only by the pale light of the laughing moon and her accompanying stars. The blessedly serene scenes of people awakening as sunlight gently caresses their cheeks and lips like the tender kisses of a lover and a morning breeze rustles through the leaves of the ever flourishing green trees outside of the warm bedroom window.

Ha. I'd love to have just one of those mornings.

Instead I get my typical wakeup call rather than the kisses of sunlight I wanted to greet me – my alarm clock's ear-splitting voice pounds through my head so forcibly my ears ring and my skull aches. As the screaming banshee erupted into life on my nightstand that morning, my eyes snapped open to stare at the dark ceiling above my bed and the soft illumination that graced it, seeping through my window's heavy curtains from the street lights outside. Nearly falling off my bed in my desperate attempt to get my alarm clock in hand and silence the beast once and for all, I snarled as I snatched it up. I punched the power button harder than was necessary before tossing the devilish device across the room.

Grumbling and rubbing my eyes, I fought my way free of my invitingly warm sheets and burst into the cold atmosphere of my bedroom.

I shivered as I padded in my thin black slippers to the window and tossed the curtain open. I needed some sun desperately to warm up. And I needed to ensure that I remembered to open the curtain so my plants would get some much-needed natural light.

The morning routine flowed quickly as I ensure it always does. My plants were watered immediately from the watering tin I keep in the corner and fill every night. Digging through my closet granted me a pair of black jeans and an emerald colored polo shirt with the Clamp Academy crest embroidered and the school name written in script encircling that crest upon the pocket all in golden thread. The dresser gave up a pair of underwear, black socks and clean black leather gloves to replace those I'd worn to bed. I never bothered grabbing a hat – Hokuto-chan would always run into my bedroom and select one, or bring one herself to go with whatever she decided I would be wearing if my own decision wasn't up to her standards.

She was going to be upset that I'd picked a polo shirt today as it left little room for accessorizing, but it was all I had that was clean and appropriate for school. I hadn't had the opportunity to do laundry in a few weeks, and even her supply of outfits for me was running low. And with Seishiro-san taking me out more and more often, I had burned through my clothing supply abnormally quickly.

Exiting my bedroom and making my way swiftly to my bathroom, my mind remained focused on my goal of quickly finishing my morning routines so I had time to double check what homework I'd completed and prepare myself for yet another day dwelling in the stifling environment that was my classroom. As I worked the shampoo I spread into my hair to a rich lather, I reminded myself that I also had to prepare for the evening that was to follow – taking Shiro-kun to Seishiro-san's clinic as I'd so abruptly promised to do last night would be quite a task, and I wasn't certain how the boy would react to my hasty decision. He seemed to have a near instinctual loathing of the veterinarian. Of course, supposing that what he 'knew' of the future was true, he had every reason not to hold any faith. I was unwilling to believe it. Seishiro-san deserved the benefit of the doubt at the very least – my full trust at the best.

I pondered that. I truly did trust him, despite his sometimes questionable behavior and Shiro-kun's abrupt revelations. My heart refused to acknowledge what my sister and I suspected.

After all, someone with so kind a heart couldn't possibly be so terrible.

As I finished my shower, the pain of the wounds I'd incurred on Wednesday caught up with me and nearly took me off my feet.

I'd quite forgotten about the Razor Winds and flying urns I encountered at Ise. With a sigh as the throbbing reminder of my job's dangers washed over me like the shower water I'd just enjoyed, I dug through the medicine cabinet and was soon rewarded with the discovery of a roll of ace bandages accompanied by a stack of gauze pads. Further rummaging revealed a tube of Neosporin and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.

There wasn't any way I could possibly bind myself. Many of my wounds were on my arms, leaving but one hand to awkwardly handle the bandages I sought to wrap myself in, and a few of the gashes granted to me by that unhappy spirit were just between my shoulder blades in that ever so inconvenient part of the human body that a person can never reach without assistance.

I decided to ask Hokuto-chan to help me when she arrived that morning, and settled on throwing my terrycloth bathrobe around my shoulders. Binding it quickly at the waist, I left my clothes for the day neatly folded on the sink counter and made my way to the kitchen, intending to get my paper from my doorway and make myself a breakfast of toast and cereal before my sister arrived at my door so I could get out of the house and off to the bus in a reasonable amount of time. I was bound and determined to go to class that day, damn it all.

My shin solidly connected with the hard metal of the couch's hide-away bed.

I fell. I fell quite hard, as a matter of fact, sprawling across that bed with my leg wailing in pain and blaming me for my incredible stupidity. How could I have forgotten that I have a houseguest and that the couch's folding bed would be in use?

I whimpered as I tried to roll onto my back to get a hand onto my shin, intending to apply pressure to the point of contact upon my flesh in order to dull the throbbing ache that issued from it.

The bed wormed wildly under me with a muffled squawk of protest at my movement.

I froze, my cheeks instantly on fire. Shiro-kun wasn't exactly on the other side of the bed, was he? No wonder it had felt so lumpy.

Jumping off the bed, I bowed instantly. "Sumimasen!" I burst.

The sheets were flung back hastily. Shiro-kun looked stunned at first, then confused. A moment of depressed realization flooded his eyes before he looked at me again and allowed that sad emotion to be replaced instantly with giggling laughter that shined in the amethyst depths of his irises. "Eh, ohayo, Subaru."

I could feel myself blush even more fiercely. "O-ohayo," I responded. "I'm sorry about… uh…."

Shiro-kun smiled, a chuckle escaping his throat. "Subaru, it's alright. I'm just not used to being awakened like that."

Staring at my feet, I sighed as I continued to explain myself. "I'd forgotten that the folding bed would be out. Usually I run straight to the door to get my paper before making breakfast."

"Sorry for being in the way," he instantly replied, his voice soft and lackluster.

"No!" I immediately said, lifting my gaze and staring at him. "Don't say that. You're welcome here. I should be more careful and not wake you so early in your day. I'm sorry for my rude behavior."

The boy stared at me.

"What?" I said a few moments later, intent on breaking the discomforting silence between us.

"Nothing. I'm just not used to you being so apologetic. Or polite."

I arched a brow.

Getting the hint that I wanted further clarification almost instantly, he continued to explain, "To me, you're usually polite and fairly accommodating. Most everybody else gets your infamous silent treatment, or worse gets the bland stare of 'I really don't care,' or even more drastic, the 'you don't exist in my world' walk-by."

It was my turn to stare in confusion. That certainly didn't sound like me.

But he was speaking of a person he'd supposedly encountered nine years in the future. A lot can change in such a span of time, enough perhaps to craft an entirely different personality into a man. All the more reason to check his claim of where he should be in my time and my Tokyo, to validate or disprove his wild claim of futuristic heritage.

The door opened.

"Ohayo, Subaru!" the call instantly rang.

Turning I smiled and replied, "Ohayo, Hokuto-cha-"

I stared.

Hokuto-chan in a mini-dress is not a sight I'm entirely unused to seeing. Hokuto-chan in clothing created from odd materials is not an entire oddity in our combined households.

But she was dressed in tinfoil!

A tinfoil mini-dress!

A tinfoil mini-dress, who's hem was decorated with little blue bows with pink puffy balls decorating their centers and who's back was garnished with a gigantic replica of those bows. A tinfoil mini-dress without shoulders, clinging desperately to the delicate curves of her breasts and ending just under her groin, hugging her body as tightly as her own skin does. A tinfoil mini-dress that had its inadequate coverage of the shoulders compensated for by a large fluffy pink satin sash. A tinfoil mini-dress which was topped by a hat also crafted of tinfoil which appeared to be a funnel placed upside-down on her head in reminiscence of the Tin Man from the classical 'Wizard of Oz,' its hollow tip topped by yet another pink puffy ball.

And she had strapped silver sandals to match.

She grinned as she sat down and started the long process of getting her intricately tied shoes off her feet. "Neh, can you bring me my gray slippers, Subaru?"

It took only a second for my mouth to answer with the appropriate "Aa," while my brain still remained in stunned shock at the sight I'd seen.

As I returned with her slippers from the hall closet, I looked carefully at my sister. She hadn't brought any parcels with her. I heaved a sigh in relief as my brain realized that she wouldn't be decorating me in a similar fashion that day.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

I'd escaped with an ordinary black hat, this one decorated with an emerald green ribbon to match my polo shirt, placed upon my head. The outfit I'd selected was actually still on my body. The only changes that had been added were a multitude of chains Hokuto-chan insisted I wrap around my waist, my jeans being tucked into a pair of combat boots rather than my comfortable sneakers covering my feet, and a black denim jacket tossed around my shoulders.

I knew I'd be overheated before the day was through, but it wasn't that much of a bother. After all, I've been through far worse than wearing a jacket on a bright and sunny day. There was a slight breeze to stir up the air anyway, so it wouldn't bee too much of an inconvenience.

It was already noon and with the sun high in the sky I was beginning to feel the weight of his heavy waves drowning me in their light and warmth. Shrugging my backpack to rest its weight entirely on my left shoulder, I lifted a hand to wipe sweat from my brow even as I approached the lunch line those few companions from my classes that I could refer to as 'friends' were standing near. Arching a brow as I approached, I took account of their situation. They were standing by the line rather than in it. This, of course, meant that since our after lunch period was a self-study hall, that we were going to follow tradition and escape from campus for the time we had freedom bestowed upon us.

"Yo, Sumeragi-kun!" Kyoshi called out.

Smiling brightly to him, I returned his greeting. "Takama-kun," I called even as I stepped up to his side.

Takama Kyoshi sat in front of me in class. A Tokyo resident his entire life, he was one of those kids well versed in the ways and mysteries of the city he called home. He himself lived near the Ginza district of the vast city we both laid claim to. Slightly shorter than myself and a little more stocky, he carried a heavily mussed mop of black hair and dark, inquisitive eyes that missed nary a detail of every event that occurred around him. Looking completely cool and relaxed in his short-sleeved uniform shirt and slacks, he smirked. "Your sister got you again this morning, eh?" he called with a chuckle.

"What else is new?" laughed the boy standing beside him.

The one who'd spoken was a tall southern boy with bright brown eyes and a shock of black hair barely held in place against his skull by heavy hair gel named Shioji Yukio, standing with an easy and lazy posture, arms crossed over his t-shirt clad chest and jean-covered legs crossed at the ankles from his position between Kyoshi and Nioshima Sumiko, who was giggling behind her prettily painted fingers. She with her bright blue eyes telling of her foreign heritage and her long black hair granted by her Japanese mother was dressed in the proper school uniform of a puffy-sleeved shirt over a loose, long skirt with Mary Jane shoes. Both were in different classes than Kyoshi and I, Yukio being our senior by two years and Sumiko our junior by one.

"Really, Sumeragi-kun, you ought to grow a spine," Sumiko laughed, "otherwise your sister is going to walk all over you for the rest of your life."

Shaking my head as I walked over to them, I smiled faintly. "Hello to you as well, Shioji-san. Nioshima-chan."

Yukio smirked and clasped a hand on my shoulder. "Neh, Sumeragi-kun, what say you that we ditch this place?"

"Planning on going to the arcade?" I asked, arching a brow.

"Got that right!" the two boys chirped in unison.

"Going to accompany us?" Sumiko inquired, winking slyly.

I debated the wisdom in following them for a few moments. After all, lunchtime was always a great time to get homework done – those three were really the only people who would bother me during lunch, sitting with me and trying to engage me in conversation.

They, as before mentioned, were the only ones I could really consider friends. Everyone else I dealt with seemed to respect me, but befriend me? Hardly.

Kyoshi, Yukio and Sumiko treated me as an ordinary person. They didn't regard me as a title, an epitaph of Sumeragi. They didn't respect me because of my clan, my position within my clan, my job or my power. Indeed, Yukio was just as likely to grab me by the back of my shirt and haul me about like a sack of potatoes as bow to me, and Sumiko was one who took joy in punching my arms as often and as hard as she could whenever I started being too 'traditional and stuffy,' as she referred to my behavior at times. And Kyoshi was always one to lead me about with an arm slung around my neck much like an older sibling.

Their company, thus, was always welcome. I've always been quiet, and as a result of that personality trait have always been rather alone. Hokuto-chan, before, had always been with me to chase away any impending clouds of isolation that would dare to hover over me, but with me attending Clamp by myself her rescue was entirely unavailable now. But those three took her place in that small function, keeping me company in an otherwise lonely situation.

However, they did wonders for keeping me from the homework I could get done during my lunch period.

Without them there, I'd be able to get a considerable amount of work done, possibly saving a couple of hours of my weekend from the monsters my books and my papers had become.

But it would be one heck of a dull lunch and an even more boring study hall, dedicated to my books and nothing else.

Yukio decided upon the answer to my dilemma for me, grabbing me by the front of my shirt and hauling me along with him. "Come on, Sumeragi-kun. The longer you take debating, the more quality game time we're missing out on! Whatever you were planning to do during study hall can wait."

Kyoshi shook his head and grinned. "Your homework can wait till tonight, right? I know you've got a lot of it, but damn it all, everyone needs a break. Take a bit of fun in your life!"

"After all, it's Saturday. Relax for lunch, hit the books for the rest of the day, and cram your homework this weekend," Sumiko offered with a wink.

Well, I didn't have any choice in the matter as it was, staggering after the taller boy who dragged me without mercy off of the school grounds.

At least it was a short walk to the arcade.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

We'd very nearly missed class after study hall.

Out of breath and covered with perspiration, Kyoshi and I barely managed to slip into our chairs as our instructor walked into the room, his Anatomical Sciences books in his hands.

We'd been a bit distracted at the arcades. I was wondering if Sumiko and Yukio managed to reach their classes on time or if they were being sent to the director yet again for their tardiness.

Sumiko had managed to get her foothold on the Super Mario Brothers Three machine in the arcade. It was her favorite game, I think, namely because it was one of the few she could defeat with only a few tokens. She played it every time we came, and had become so proficient with the machine that we no longer really watched her play. She didn't care – she was decent and she knew it.

Yukio and Kyoshi were in the Battle Cars simulator, each seated in their seats with their fingers curled around their small steering wheels, each glaring at the other with manic grins on their faces as they prepared to race around the virtual track.

I'd watched them for a while until the flashing lights of my own favorite attraction blinking hypnotically from the arcade's back wall drew my own attention.

Bored with watching Yukio continually pound Kyoshi's small blue car into the barriers of the race track and zoom by only to lose the race to the computer simulated opponents that tore past them when they were intently trying to destroy one another, I wandered over to those flashing lights that demanded my money.

I've always loved pinball.

In fact, I was proficient enough with the machines that I was able to last nearly all of lunch and study hall on one token.

Kyoshi's breathless cry of "Oh my god! Sumeragi-kun, we've got to run! Class is in ten minutes!" was all that broke my concentration enough to draw me away from the machine.

I wanted to scream in frustration as I ran from the machine. Space Cadet was my favorite one. I'd made my way to the rank of Colonel and was half way to the next rank, right in the middle of a nearly impossible time-challenge involving the battle bunkers. I'd also had the times five multiplier on, had shattered the previous high score of fifty six million points that I'd set last week, and had the wormholes activated all while in triple ball play. I'd gotten Compensation level three, meaning that I could replay the final ball of that trio that was zipping about the field with each flick of my flippers and each hard beat of the bunkers and springs twice more after it had dropped beyond the reach of the flaps into oblivion. And I was only on my second play of three.

Damn it all!

As a group we'd run, splitting only when we reached the courtyard between the massive buildings that made the scholastic conglomeration that was Clamp Campus with Yukio running towards his Senior Class' hall, Sumiko tearing as quickly as her little feet could carry her towards her own class and Kyoshi and I keeping pace with one another through the double doors of our building, up the stairs, down three hallways and into our room.

I let my head sink onto my desk as our instructor took his position at the front of the room, lifting a hand to idly rub at the sweat-soaked and itching bandages that were wrapped around my head.

"Sumeragi-san, pay attention," our sensei scolded.

"Hai," I sighed, leaning back in my chair even as I prepared myself for the final classes of the day.

I couldn't help but snigger under my breath as Kyoshi turned his head and rolled his eyes at me before passing me a note with a picture depicting our teacher as a stick figure with a road pylon jammed into a rather censorable area of his anatomy.

Another note said, "Damn, I wish you could have finished that game! We're going to have to go back there after school."

We were caught as Kyoshi read my reply telling him that I was going to be busy, and tomorrow would be better.

As our instructor took our notepaper away from us and stalked to the front of the classroom, my friend leaned back and chuckled, "I want lunch period again."

So did I.

It was such a welcome break.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

Shiro Kamui was sulking as he tromped along behind me, his hands stuffed deeply into the pockets of the bright red jacket he'd been forced to borrow from my wardrobe and his feet, clad in shoes a size too big for him, scraping along the ground.

He was still trying to get over the indignation of hearing Hokuto-chan proclaim that she was done babysitting him for the day and I was taking him off with me to Seishiro-san's clinic that very moment.

Glancing back at him, I smiled brightly. The boy was clad in a pair of my black jeans that were probably very uncomfortable for him, being as they were too tight across his hips and waist and were a couple of inches too long. The shirt he wore fit a bit better, but a black t-shirt doesn't leave much room for an improper sizing. It was hanging loose over the waistband of those jeans as he had proclaimed that if he were to tuck it in there'd be no room for his body. His head was free of a hat, very unlike my own, and his hands bare.

Of course, he had no need for gloves. Plus I doubt they'd fit him anyway.

Hokuto-chan had proclaimed that he was thickheaded as determined by his ostentatious behavior displayed while I was at school and she was suffering his presence in my apartment, obviously quite drawn from his flailing as she'd attempted to dress him as both had confirmed he'd done.

Catching sight of my smile, he blinked once then ducked his head again and sighed softly, a blush coloring his cheeks. "I just wish she wouldn't have said it so harshly," he grunted, his voice just as surly as the rest of him.

"You realize she was joking," I light-hearted chuckled.

"She doesn't even know me. I don't know her. How am I supposed to know when she's joking?" he snorted.

A small sigh in lieu of a laugh escaped me. The poor boy did have a point. My sister can take an incredibly long time to get used to, I do suppose. How Seishiro-san had managed to so quickly adjust to her ways was still quite the mystery.

"Just take everything she says in stride, Shiro-kun," I suggested. "If she means something seriously, she'll take on a different atmosphere than what she was exhibiting when she pushed you at me and threw us out."

"Really?" he gruffly grunted.

"Really," I reassured him.

Kamui sighed then grumbled as he tugged at the jacket that hung loosely around his shoulders. "I just wish she wouldn't have accosted me."

"Accosted you?"

"She dressed me," he bit with a blush instantly lighting his cheeks. "Doesn't she have any respect for a person's privacy?"

I laughed in spite of myself. "Hokuto-chan's a bit… forward like that, I do suppose."

"Tell me about it," he huffed, his face still bright cherry red. "All she did was proclaim that she'd seen boys before, she has a twin brother for God's sake, blah blah blah, and then grabbed me and tore my clothes off."

"Did she leave you the decency of underwear?" I asked, arching a brow as I glanced over at him.

He flushed even deeper. "Yeah."

"At least she gave you that!" I teasingly shot. Usually I don't tease or joke, but that boy had a very odd way of putting me completely at ease. I'd only really known Shiro-kun for a day or so, but he was already so familiar….

A very odd phenomenon, indeed. Perhaps it had something to do with the Dragons of Heaven.

I doubted that. He simply put my mind at ease and let me – actually, encouraged me – to be myself.

As he flushed and grumped along a step behind me, we finally arrived at Seishiro-san's clinic. Opening the door, I smiled brightly as I was greeted with his cheerful voice shouting for me to head on into the back.

Walking around the counter and ducking into the examination room, my eyes widened.

A small kitten was sitting on the table, growling as it glared at the cast that encased its back leg. Orange fur still faintly tinged with blood, tabby lines lost in the mangled tangles that twisted those silky strands together, the small animal was a veritable mess.

The veterinarian who'd apparently just finished tending the animal grinned cheerfully as he walked over and laid a hand upon my shoulder. "Ah, so you did decide to swing by after all! Wonderful, wonderful. And where is your delightful sister, Subaru-kun?"

I returned his smile as I looked up into his eyes, my gaze locking upon those crescents of dark lashes behind his glasses lenses. "She's staying at home to eat bon-bons and watch 'Romancing the Stone' on television tonight. Hokuto-chan said she needs some all alone girl time."

"Ah, so that's why your houseguest is with you, neh?"

I was about to remind him that he'd expressed concern as to who would be watching Shiro-kun while I visited him and that he'd been relieved when I'd suggested bringing him along with me, but stopped before my mouth began to move. Shiro-kun hadn't known that Seishiro-san had stayed so late last night.

I didn't want to give anyone any reason to be suspicious of our activities. All I needed was for someone to figure out what we were up to, tell Hokuto-chan, and get her going on the rampage she'd promised to deliver should Seishiro-san break time honored tradition and sully her little brother before she was able to design our virginal honeymoon suite.

Every time I recalled that time she'd made her promise to castrate my dear companion and feed him his own testicles after blending them with strawberries and ice to make a tasty smoothie out of them and her proclamation that she was going to design the best suite ever, I wanted to ram my forehead solidly into a nearby wall. She had the most devious imagination, and enough of a vicious streak to follow up on it. I've always wondered where she gotten them from.

Perhaps if we'd known our parents a bit longer before their tragic end, I'd know.

Driving my thoughts instantly away from the depressing turn they were threatening to run along, I shook my head. "Yes, that's why Shiro-kun's with me," I stated, catching the glimmer in Seishiro-san's eyes as he opened them that acknowledged my fib and congratulated me on keeping our activities cleanly disguised.

Shiro-kun, meanwhile, was staring around the clinic, his mouth slowly moving.

I listened carefully, barely catching the last half of his whisper – "and he has a vet clinic? What the hell? A man like him?"

Shaking my head, I walked back to the examination table with its little kitty inhabitant, Seishiro-san's hand dragging him along with me. "What happened to this little one?" I asked even as I offered the kitten my fingers.

As it sniveled me then decided to scent mark me, Seishiro-san's voice quietly sighed from behind me. "The poor little thing was trying to cross the road to battle for the scraps I put out for the strays every night. It got hit rather badly, but it should be fine in a month or two."

"It got hit by a car?" I whispered, aghast.

"Aa. Neh, Subaru-kun, however do you do that?"

I arched a brow curiously at Seishiro-san then looked down. The kitten had all but crawled onto my hand and was mewing for me to pick it up. I happily obliged.

A smirk crossed the veterinarian's lips as he held aloft his other hand. Blood still coursed from the deep gouging scratches that coursed its fine length and oozed from the pinprick bites he'd received. "Because the little darling is quite a feisty little beast," he stated.

I stared at his hand. "Seishiro-san! You should wash that out!" I cried in concern.

"Oh, if I let it bleed a bit, it will keep the infections down," he stated happily. "However, I should be cleaning it up soon. Would you mind watching the micro-terror?"

A chuckle escaped me as I hugged the bandaged kitten to my chest. "No problem," I replied.

Shiro-kun approached as Seishiro-san left my immediate vicinity. "What's this?" he asked as he held his finger to the kitten for it to sniff.

I shook my head as the tiny tabby hissed and took a swipe at the boy's fingers and as he withdrew them with a startled squawk. "It got hit by a car. It's one of the strays that Seishiro-san provides for."

"Provides for?"

"Aa," I said. "He feeds them and if they become tame enough he takes them in, vaccinates and spays or neuters them, and gives them to good homes."

Shiro-kun's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me. _Him_?"

"He's not really so heartless as you seem to think he is."

Amethyst eyes narrowed slightly and he huffed. "Subaru-"

"Ah, hydrogen peroxide! My favorite. Bubble, bubble!"

We both turned as one towards the small bathroom at the back of the veterinarian clinic, Shiro-kun's eyes staring as if he was catching sight of a madman, my own shining with amusement.

Seishiro-san can be so strange at times, but it's relaxing. It's human. It's a confirmation that he's the sweet man he's been proving himself for the time since I met him after my wild shikigami chase rather than the cold-blooded killer his clan is led by.

"So, Subaru-kun, have you had anything to eat yet?" Seishiro-san's voice called from that bathroom moments later.

"Not yet," I replied even as I shrugged my backpack off. If he was asking about dinner, he was very likely hungry himself and ready to send me on a McDonald's run, as his clinic didn't close on Saturdays until late in the night.

"Would you-"

"Teriyaki Sandwich and a Fish Burger, right?"

Seishiro-san's voice laughed heartily. "And some fries as well! Take your little friend with you. Dinner's on me. My wallet is in my jacket in my office."

"Arigato, Seishiro-san," I said as I shook my head. He didn't need to always be purchasing dinner for me. I could afford it myself.

I grabbed Shiro-kun's wrist after putting the injured kitten back onto the examination table and dragged him away with me.

"We're going to McDonald's?" he asked.

Why did he sound so surprised? "Aa," I said after a few moments. "His clinic won't be closing until ten tonight. We're going to eat here, and I'm going to see about getting some of my homework done."

"Oh…. That's it?" Shiro-kun questioned.

"Aa. Afterwards we might do something, but until the close of the business day I've got to keep busy somehow. And while I'd rather play with the animals as I was intending to do, I really should try to get my homework done so I have tomorrow free."

"Oh. Planning on doing something tomorrow?"

I nodded even as I wove my way through the crowds that flooded the evening streets of Shinjuku. "A few friends and I were planning on going to the arcades." I blinked a few times then glanced back. "Want to come along?"

His smile was impossibly bright. "I'd love to, Subaru," he chirped.

I smiled back at him for a moment before returning my attention to the streets we were walking and the crowd we were navigating our way through. After all, I had a mission – to get dinner and meet with Seishiro-san before it got cold, to finish that diabolical homework packet and play with that antisocial little kitten.

And Shiro-kun was smiling beautifully as he followed me, his spirits lifted by the promise of going out with my friends and myself on Sunday.

After getting our food and returning to the clinic to dine, I sighed with delight as I watched Shiro-kun play with a newly born puppy from the corner of my eye, his suspicions about Seishiro-san apparently forgotten for the moment with the arrival of the fluffy bundle of squirming excitement being dropped into his lap by the cheery veterinarian who had fries hanging from between his lips like golden cigarettes.

The peaceful atmosphere was making this one lovely, wonderful Saturday evening.

_tbc..._


	5. Discoveries

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Snuggling of the yaoi variety implying many instances of faked innocence (lemon-version to be on website once that place is updated), more Hokuto-chan outfits, and hideously cute children.

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

I yawned loudly as I stretched, awakened by the soft beeping of the alarm clock that rested on the mahogany nightstand that sat upon three sturdy legs beside the elevated western-styled bed. Reaching across my partner in that sea of warm burgundy and forest green blankets and sheets, I lightly pressed the large snooze button on top of the device and read the large glowing red numbers to confirm what my brain was already muttering tiredly – it was four in the morning.

"Sleep well, Subaru-kun?" a voice that sounded as tired as I could feel I was quietly murmured beside me even as a warm arm slipped around my bare body, pinning me in place efficiently.

"Aa," I replied sleepily, snuggling against Seishiro-san's warm nude frame, pressing my cheek to his chest. "And yourself?" I asked after a few moments, leaving my head resting where it was, lifting a hand instead to caress his lips with slender fingertips.

"I always sleep well with you in my bed," he chuckled, kissing my fingers and nibbling lightly on the leather that covered them. "So, ready to go back to your apartment and get prepared for Hokuto-chan's breakfast spectacular?"

"Mm," I grunted. "Maybe in a couple of hours. As long as we get back before Shiro-kun wakes up and Hokuto-chan barges in, it'll be fine. They don't know I snuck out last night."

"If nothing else, you could tell them that you came over to get some help with your Anatomical Sciences homework. There is truth to that, after all."

Lifting my head, I smiled at him and nodded. "Aa. Arigato. For the assistance, I mean. You're saving me as far as that class is concerned."

"Ah, you know that's not true, Subaru-kun. You'd do fine in it if you didn't have so much homework that risked not getting completed thanks to your hectic work schedule," Seishiro-san said with a smile on his lips as he lightly ruffled my hair.

He did speak the truth. It wasn't as if any of my classes were so difficult that I wouldn't be able to excel in them under normal circumstances, but with work eliminating any opportunity to study or complete homework many nights and my grades at school partially dependant on my attendance and my completion of said assigned homework, I was running a merry gambit between responsibilities to my family and to my scholastic record. Often it was Seishiro-san who sat and did part of my homework, giving it to me to recopy in my own handwriting and evaluate as I transcribed it, making corrections or changes as necessary. He was always a fabulous help with my sciences classes – of course, that could be expected as sciences are directly incorporated into his daily life through his chosen career. English was another subject in which he was quite an assistance, summarizing my readings for me and testing my vocabulary randomly while I sat to write or sketch as necessary. Literature was yet another course he helped me with though not so much with understanding as with finishing assigned tasks within their set time constraints.

All were subjects I thoroughly understood, so I do believe that's why Seishiro-san had no qualms about grabbing my books and doing my homework while he was between clients at his clinic.

However, he was never allowed to touch my mathematics homework again. Math was my subject, one of which I was proud of my accomplishments in. They don't call me the human calculator in class for nothing.

Yes, I might forget equations and processes from time to time, but I can guarantee that once an equation has been figured out and a process determined my solution will very likely be right. Seishiro-san, on the other hand….

He tried so hard to help, but he's been eternally denied access to my math books.

I guess you don't need Calculus to be a veterinarian.

Seishiro-san always joked with me, asking me why I wouldn't rather be a math instructor or research scientist with my proficiency with numbers.

His eyes always sparkled when I would tell him that numbers aren't living, sentient creatures that need care and love to thrive and exist. Yes, perhaps I could make finer of a living doing as he suggested and would have an easy time of it, but it wasn't my dream.

Hell, if I was looking for a job guaranteed to deliver cash, fame or success I'd just keep my eyes focused on my current profession as head of the Sumeragi and abandon my dreams of being an animal handler. I get paid very well for each job I do, and am quite unfortunately well known amongst those who follow spiritual circles.

However, animal handling is a job I would rather do. I swore to myself long ago that the moment I could find someone who would be able to take my responsibilities to my clan and perform them as proficiently as myself I would be abandoning the leadership and devoting myself entirely to my own dream.

The opportunity to work with creatures varying from the exotic and dangerous tiger to the unassuming gecko was far too attractive of a possibility to ignore, especially considering my affinity for animals.

I've always loved animals. They don't require you to speak to them, they don't attempt to rationalize everything you say, and they never judge you for a title you hold. They regard you as what you are and who you are, accepting you or fighting you, communicating wants and desires truthfully, entirely without the capacity to tell falsehoods. That very trait in of itself, the sheer truthfulness of the animal kingdom, made it such an interesting and, to persons like myself who value such traits, irresistible realm.

Plus they don't look at you funny if you stutter.

People, on the other hand, tend to do such. Which, of course, only helps heighten the nervousness that causes the condition in the first place. That's one thing I've always hated about dealing with people – they tend to make me, an already fairly skittish person, into nothing more than a babbling wreck barely able to communicate that yes, I am there to help them with their spirit crisis and yes, I really am an onmyouji even though I'm only sixteen.

My rambling thoughts were interrupted by the alarm clock gently beeping again. This time it was Seishiro-san's hand that reached out to hit the alarm clock then push the small slider bar along its top to turn its alarm feature off.

I took a moment to study that hand as it made its small journey, admiring its lightly tanned skin and its almost delicate bone structure laying under the fine mesh of veins that barely shown as raised ridges along the backs of those deceivingly powerful appendages. Reaching out with my own, I lightly ran my gloved fingertips along the lengths of his fingers, sighing quietly.

His other hand carefully snaked around my waist and drew my body along the length of his before slipping up my back to my shoulder blades and pulling me down. Our lips soon met, both parting slightly, our tongues lightly pressing their fleshy ends together before slipping side to side to rest their exploring tips in our partner's mouth.

Finishing our morning kiss, I sighed happily, barely noticing that he was resetting his alarm to awaken us in time to wash up and get to my apartment before either my dear sister or my houseguest noticed my absence.

I tugged at my outfit, trying to get the large buckles that ran over my back to rest somewhere other than directly over my spine as I leaned back against the subway train's seat.

Hokuto-chan had dressed me again that day, deriving much criticism from Kyoshi, a proclamation that I was 'luscious enough to pass for a high-paid streetwalker' from Yukio, and a whistle and lament about my lack of interest from Sumiko.

I was in black vinyl pants that left absolutely nothing to the imagination, coming to their termination a few inches above my ankles to leave them bare. My feet were comfortably encased in soft black shiny slip-on loafers with no decorative features whatsoever. The pants, the shoes, these were ordinary occurrences when Hokuto-chan dressed me, and nothing that would get my friends to critique me.

No, it had to be the shirt.

It was a soft gray number, fitting me like a second skin and made of sleek satin. That in of itself wasn't unusual. What were unique were the black vinyl belts that erupted from the shirt's side seams and shoulders, clasping together at my sternum and between my shoulder blades with large silver buckles and forming X's across my chest and back. Two additional straps circumfrenced the bottom of that shirt, wrapping completely around my waist a couple of times before buckling conveniently in with the buckle sported by the studded belt she'd laced through my pants' belt loops. The long sleeves were tucked under black vinyl gloves that clung up half of my forearms, held tightly in place by thick black bands and silver buckles like my shirt. And topping my head was a gray beret with a black vinyl band, buckled like all the others that accosted my body and sporting the Clamp Campus pin to mark me as a student and not just a stray vagabond meandering the grounds.

I don't know what had encouraged her to dress me like that.

She herself had been in a tight black vinyl miniskirt and a shirt that exactly matched my own. Her feet upon arrival had been clad in black high heels that sported straps that raced the length of her legs to end mid thigh. Her gloves, black as mine were, reached instead of to the middle of her forearms to the middle of her biceps.

Shiro-kun almost made me choke on my breakfast when he leaned over and whispered to me that in that outfit we could sell her on the streets for five hundred yen and a happy meal.

Setting all thoughts of my sister's outrageously alluring outfit (and the outrageously impressed stares we drew when we'd met at the bus station that afternoon) out of my mind, I instead focused on the sign at the train's forefront that advertised the area I was passing through. We'd just passed yet another subway stop, heading towards the Tokyo district that was the location of the small shrine Shiro-kun claimed to be near during this era.

Hokuto-chan twiddled her thumbs as she sat beside me. "Neh, Subaru," she began, leaving over to whisper in my ear, "what do you suppose we'll find here?"

"I don't know," I truthfully replied, shaking my head slightly. "I'm hoping that we'll find proof of Shiro-kun's story being true."

"You want his little 'I am from the future' story to be true?" she questioned, arching a brow.

A sigh escaped my lips as I slipped down in my chair, tilting my head slightly to lay it upon her shoulder. "I don't know. It's just that the boy's so troubled that it'd be crushing to discover that his story is false. It's so easy to see the desperate longing in his eyes for us to believe him."

Lifting a hand to lightly pet my hair, she mimicked my sigh and nodded. "And you'd find it impossible to tell him that he's full of crap and kick him out because he's nothing more than a loon who has no capacity to handle reality?"

"Something like that," I admitted as I closed my eyes, enjoying her simple, loving touch.

"Subaru, you're so completely hopeless," she admonished.

"I know."

We remained like that until the next stop, where we needed to depart. Reluctantly separating, we rose and made our way through the terminal crowds to get off of the subway and maneuver to the surface streets.

"So, where's this shrine he's supposedly at, Subaru?" Hokuto-chan immediately chirped as we burst onto the streets and the warm sun's rays immediately accosted our flesh once more.

"It should be just a couple of blocks away," I said, dragging the map I'd carefully copied out of the books we have in the Clamp Library from my backpack. Burying my nose into the paper, I began to walk.

"You know, I wish you'd watch where you're going. That'd save us so many embarrassing little stops."

"Un."

"Mou!"

I ignored her, keeping my eyes to my map, looking up from time to time to catch the name of a street or a number off a building to determine our location in relevance to my reference. Hokuto-chan was good enough of a sport to grab my arm and steer me through the crowds on our small sojourn and keep me from running anyone down in my meandering walk.

It was nearly half an hour that passed after we'd left the subway terminal before we came to a halt in front of a small, unassuming little shrine tucked away into a nice residential area.

"This is it?" Hokuto-chan asked, arching a brow and scrunching her nose. "Not very big."

"It's not meant to be," I replied, tucking the map away into a pocket of my backpack once again. "This is it, though. Togakushi."

We both snuck to the gate as stealthily as we could and peeked inside.

I was astonished at what I saw.

Within those grounds, under a large sakura tree, was a sand box. Seated in the middle of that pit of white play sand was a small boy in baggy blue jeans and a loose red sweatshirt with a hood sewn onto it bearing a bucket and a shovel, humming happily to himself as he patted down the wall of the structure he was building, smoothing out the imperfections that raced through its construction.

The sunlight skittered playfully off his mussed black hair that swept in long, playful bangs over slender eyebrows.

Looking up, he smiled brightly at his play companions who were approaching from the house.

One of those two children coming from the nearby structure was a beautiful little girl with wavy blonde hair and lovely hazel eyes that stared at the world with unmatched innocence. Skipping over, her long white dress decorated with bright blue flowers swirling about her body in playful waves and her Mary Jane incased feet tapping lightly on the pavement, she laughed as she bounded into the sand box to sit beside the boy busily building in that pit. She took care to straighten her large brimmed sunhat before waving at the other youth who had been her walking companion.

The other child, a young boy with dark hair that stuck wildly out from the sides of his head and hung in ragged bangs to their termination at his eyebrows, grinned merrily as he shuffled to the sand box himself, his sneakers scraping along the sidewalk. Without care to the condition of his tiny designer jeans or his white t-shirt, he crawled into the pit alongside of the girl and looked with deep brown eyes at the mussed-haired boy who tapped at the walls of his sandcastle once again.

The child who had originally caught my eyes, the boy with the shovel, turned towards Hokuto-chan and myself. For one brief instant I'd feared that we'd been caught in our spying before I realized that he was simply looking at his two companions who were seated beside him.

I was entranced completely by those lovely amethyst eyes that sparkled in the sunlight as he laughed and happily talked to his friends. Straining my ears, I listened in to their merry conversation.

"What're you doing, Kamui?" the dark haired boy asked brightly.

"I'm building a castle for Kotori and me, Fuuma!" the purple-eyed boy proclaimed.

"Wow! That sure is going to be a nice castle when you're done with it, huh?" the boy named 'Fuuma' responded, staring at the mound in the center of the box. "Are you going to have enough sand to make it all?"

"If I run out, I'll ask Mom to get me some more from the hardware store," the child identified as 'Kamui' replied with a smile.

"It'd better be a lot bigger if it's for both of us!" the girl said merrily.

"It will be!" Kamui said, his face coloring slightly, his little brows knitting in frustration. "I just started on it a little while ago, Kotori!"

"Kamui-chan's such a hard worker," Kotori chirped before scooting herself next to the little construction worker. "I'll help!"

"But I'm building this for you," Kamui whimpered.

"Does that mean I can't help?" Kotori sniffed, looking at him with huge, watery eyes.

"Let us both help, Kamui! That way we can make sure it's a huge castle, and it won't take as much time," Fuuma interjected brightly.

Kamui seemed to consider that for a moment before turning the brightest smile I could imagine to his two little friends. "OK!"

I managed to swallow an apprehensive gulp as I blinked. "Oh my god," I found myself whispering.

"That's him, isn't it?" Hokuto-chan breathed quietly behind me, her hot breath bathing my ear.

"Aa," I confirmed, even as I watched little Kotori dump a bucket of sand over Kamui's head with a bright laugh.

As Kamui burst into tears and Fuuma chased after the running blonde girl, Hokuto-chan and I backed away from the small shrine's gates and started our trek back to the subway terminal. My head was already struggling against the weight of the evidence just shown to me to confirm my houseguest's outrageous claim of futuristic heritage.

That was Kamui.

That six-year-old boy playing in the sandbox was Shiro Kamui.

There was no way to deny that simple fact. The same mussed black hair in relatively the same cut and style sprawled over the child's head. The same general face, though more round with the baby fat that clings to all children during their earliest years, was featured on that small boy as was on the teenager who was sleeping on my couch.

And those eyes….

Those beautiful eyes would be nearly impossible to imitate with their rich hue.

Yes, they were more innocent and bright with childish glee and merriment than those of my houseguest. Shiro-kun's eyes were dark and brooding, flooded with the sorrow of a tormented past and tortured soul. But in their brightest moments, those few instances where he'd look at me and smile like he did during dinner and a few times during this week when I'd thanked him for helping me around the house, they shined as brightly and as cutely as those the child I had stared at did.

And then there was the aura.

That was the most astonishing piece of evidence I had.

The boy in that sandbox veritably dripped raw psychic power, his spirit screaming of undiscovered strength, roaring for release like a dragon locked in its egg's shell and unable to burst free without an initial crack granted to give it freedom. So innocent, yet carrying so much potential for destruction….

Or salvation.

He radiated both. The Power of God's Will and the power of He Who Hunts God's Will. The strength and savagery of both the Dragon of Heaven and the Dragon of Earth. Yin and Yang. Both swirled and clashed within his spiritual being, writhing just out of reach and just under control under a shield of blissful ignorance.

Just the mere presence of that horrible strength was nearly overwhelming.

And the fact that it was mirrored exactly by the boy who'd smiled so merrily at him and decided to take it upon himself to help the amethyst eyed Dragon with his creation had nearly rocked me entirely. I'm not an idiot – I realized the very moment I laid eyes upon them what it was I was seeing.

'Kamui' and his twin star.

Both Dragons, present at the same location in the same era, carefully hidden from those who would seek them only by their immaturity and their unawareness as to their own destinies.

I was silent all the way back to our apartment.

Hokuto-chan, oddly enough, was just as silent as I was, contenting herself with simply holding my hand until we'd reached our destination.

"So it is true?" Seishiro-san murmured into his mug as he leaned against the counter.

"Aa," I replied as I lifted the teapot to fill my own mug and prepared to refill his. "He was telling the truth. We saw him today, right where he'd said he'd be. He was playing in a sandbox with his friends."

"Very interesting," Seishiro-san replied to my answer, letting his gaze fall away from me and rove instead towards the living room where Hokuto-chan was conversing quietly with Shiro-kun. "I am finding myself wondering why he's here. Certainly time travel isn't part of the power repertoire of the 'Kamui,' neh?"

"I don't believe so," I said with a shake of my head while I refilled Seishiro-san's mug with fresh, hot tea. "Yes, he has the power to rend most of Tokyo asunder with naught more than a snit fit, but I don't see the potential for ripping the space-time continuum itself. There must have just been some cosmic mistake – or a grand cosmic joke – in effect."

"Who would do this, though? And for what purpose?"

"You're asking questions I can't hope to answer, Seishiro-san," I said softly.

"Ah, sorry Subaru-kun. I was simply pondering to myself out loud. Don't concern yourself," he said with a bright smile upon his lips. Lifting his mug he took a sip of his tea. "Another wonderful pot!" he proclaimed cheerfully.

I let myself smile despite my worries over my houseguest and the implications of his presence. "Arigato," I murmured. "You compliment me, even though I know I can't hold a candle to Hokuto-chan."

"Nonsense. When it comes to that toaster or that water spigot, you're a master," the veterinarian chirped.

Feeling my cheeks color, I bowed my head. "Seishiro-san," I muttered under my breath.

A light laugh erupted from him even as he reached across the counter to grasp my hand firmly in his, lifting it as to press the vinyl material to his lips. "Ah, Subaru-kun, don't worry yourself over Kamui-chan's situation. I'm certain we'll figure out what happened given time. It might have been something so simple as a powerful wish and a proper stimulation of his mind driving the power of the Dragon of Heaven itself to propel him back and give him an opportunity to live his desires."

I fought the continued reddening of my face that was occurring thanks to Seishiro-san's behavior and pondered instead his suggestion. "That would make sense."

"However, let's not worry ourselves about it. He's here, and that simple fact probably won't be changing any time soon. If it was an occurrence that happened due to a wish, it won't be reversing itself until that wish is either granted or proven impossible to grant. If it's due to a cosmic joke, it will play out until it's satisfied and everyone who had a hand in it has had his or her laugh. If it was due to something else entirely, who knows when this will end? So it's obvious there's not going to be a day in our near future that we'll find his presence gone entirely from our time."

Seishiro-san had a gift for always finding the underlying string of common sense in even the most abstract and obscure happenings. Nodding with his logic, I slowly withdrew my hand from his grip lest either my sister or my houseguest come marching into the kitchen for tea or refreshments.

"So let's simply enjoy our little guest's presence while he's with us, neh?" Seishiro-san finished even as he smiled when my hand removed itself from his grasp.

"Aa," I replied, letting my gaze fall upon the back of Hokuto-chan and Shiro-kun's heads as they sat side by side on the couch in the midst of some heated discussion.

"It could give us a wonderful opportunity to learn what happens, neh?" the veterinarian immediately piped up. "It would be wonderful if he could tell us our condition in regards to one another!"

"I'd rather not find out," I grunted, shaking my head. "Leave the future for the future. Knowledge could disrupt whatever's destined to happen."

"Ah, are you going to start with your thesis from last year's paper again?"

I grinned in spite of myself, my lips turning shyly yet haughtily towards their desired expression. "It was an excellent paper."

"I know. I've read it," Seishiro-san said with a smile and a nod. "So you don't need to explain to me why alteration of the past can never result in a desirable future."

"Then don't make me repeat it with silly suggestions, Seishiro-san," I said with a light laugh.

At that moment, Hokuto-chan decided to join us. My eyes widened slightly catching the ponderous and sullen look upon her face. "Hokuto-chan?" I began, concern flooding my voice.

She immediately smiled, her face brightening and losing what sadness had clung to it. "Any of that tea left?" she sidetracked, avoiding my questioning eyes with a grin.

"Aa," I replied, getting her a cup and pouring it full of brew. Handing it to her, I leaned over the counter. "Neh, what were you talking about?"

"Nonsense things," Hokuto-chan replied as she lifted her cup to her lips and took a sip. "I was finding out about those other two kids with him and what happened to them in his time."

I frowned. "Oh really?"

"Aa. Seems that they're the source of half of his nightmares," she replied.

The nightmares were a regular nuance among us all these days. Indeed, I'd been awakened three times over the week to his thrashing and crying out in the darkest hours of the night.

It was barely Thursday, too. Not even one week since he'd begun to stay with me. Just one day beyond the week since I'd dreamed his eyes in my slumber, seen his aura burst into reality along with my own in that empty dreamscape.

He'd wrapped himself in his blankets each of those three nights he'd had his terrible dreams, nearly strangling himself in his sleep as he cried out the names of those children I'd seen earlier at that small nearly-hidden shrine.

Kotori.

Fuuma.

I didn't want to think of what might have happened, of what he'd revealed to Hokuto-chan about this diabolical future he hailed from.

Just as I didn't want to think of what horrible events had managed to so destroy the innocence that flooded the eyes of the six-year-old I'd seen playing in the sandbox.

As Seishiro-san and Hokuto-chan turned their conversation conveniently towards the subject of dinner, I reflected instead on the boy who sulked on my couch. On the implications his presence presented, on the possibilities of future events displayed by his sullen eyes, on the horrible suggestions given by his sad state in contrast to his happy childhood self as he played with the children who now were the subjects of his nightmares

I couldn't join Seishiro-san and Hokuto-chan in their nonsense discussion and instead folded my gloved hands under my chin, staring off into the distance of the blank wall behind my kitchen companions as I reflected on all of the day's discoveries.

_tbc..._


	6. Serenity

Review reply: Feather-chan: Thanks so much for the review! As for all your questions, hate the pull the cliché, but time will most certainly tell what'll happen between everyone. (cheesy cackle, coughs on her own breath) Ngh. Anyway, glad you're liking this! This will be the last chapter for a little while owing to at-sea time, but due to your enjoyment of the story I'll work on it while underway. Look for the newest chapter(s) to appear next year, pro'lly in March. The motivation is much appreciated, as this _is_ a surprisingly difficult story to write (no matter how fun it is!). Thanks again!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. Massive Subaru teasing, Sorata cameos, and pretty damned blatant K+S.

Read at your own risk.

_-BEGIN FIC-_

I'd made the mistake of telling Hokuto-chan that I would be gone the entire weekend, leaving immediately this afternoon (and skipping Saturday with permission, and a considerable homework package, from my instructors) and returning possibly Monday morning in time to change for school and be on my way. When she'd inquired as to the reason I'd be missing for so long and abandoning my dinner date with Seishiro-san on Saturday that she'd arranged for me, I'd truthfully told her that I had an assignment at the request of Stargazer and was going to journey to Koya-san as quickly as possible.

I should have figured that, as she'd never been to Koya-san, she'd spring at the opportunity to travel to one of Japan's highlight spiritual tourist spots.

What had shocked me enough to delay my attempt to talk her out of accompanying me and instead staying to help Seishiro-san in his clinic was that Shiro-kun had turned on the couch, stared at me with his huge amethyst eyes sparkling delightedly, and chirped, "Can I come along? I've never been there either!"

I could provide no argument after that stunning question to prevent either one of them from instantly gathering into a huddle on my couch and talking about what they were going to see, what they were going to eat, what they were going to buy and what they were going to do on their weekend vacation.

I had wanted to scream, to yell out that this was hardly a vacation and was actually a cry for help concerning the appearance of a hostile spirit at a pool utilized for meditation and spiritual cleansing, but they were so enraptured with the idea of going to Koya-san that I couldn't begin to dream of speaking and interrupting their merriment. Oh well.

Leaning back into the soft cushions of my couch, my red trench coat abandoned to the coat hanger at the front door and my black hat with its red decorative ribbon set with it, I pulled the large red cross that adorned my zipper to draw said zipper of my skin-tight long-sleeved tall-necked shirt down to the base of my throat from its resting place near my Adam's apple to make it less uncomfortable to swallow. Crossing my black jean-covered legs, I lifted my mug to my lips to take a sip of the dark liquid held in its innards.

While I sipped my tea and reflected on how much homework I had been given that day to make up for my predetermined lack of attendance that would be following the next, I grumped into my cup. It certainly wasn't shaping up to be the Friday afternoon I had desired. I'd wanted to go to the arcade again with Kyoshi. He was going to play against Shiro-kun on the new Street Fighter game that had come out, and had offered to provide the disadvantaged boy ten thousand yen of tokens. An incredibly kind offer, a prelude to what was certain to be an exceptionally fun afternoon flooded with ice cream, jokes about our instructors, gaming and food to meet its termination with a trip to the Takama household to eat a delicious dinner and save Hokuto-chan from the cooking as she'd expressed her desire for McDonald's that night, finished by trekking to Seishiro-san's clinic and helping him feed the animals and clean their cages for closing.

The phone call to Seishiro-san was the most horrible task I'd had before me when I'd gotten back to my apartment. He was disappointed and saddened by the fact that I couldn't come and that he couldn't accompany us to my job, but as always was very understanding.

I'd rather gushed when he told me to take care of myself, and that I'd get a stern talking to if I allowed myself to be hurt in any way. The sincerity of his voice made that quiet huff of warning precious – it showed me that he cared.

Yes, my Friday, my Saturday with its plans of an after school study session and pizza fest with Kyoshi and Yukio followed by my dinner date with Seishiro-san and my Sunday with my plots to just lay back and take it easy in Shiro-kun's company while Hokuto-chan went grocery shopping were shot down entirely too efficiently by that job request from Koya-san.

Finishing my cup, I slinked back into the kitchen to refill it with the thick brew Hokuto-chan had kindly made for me when I'd gotten home.

I almost sputtered in my cup as a strangled, high-pitched scream roared out of my bedroom.

My mug hit the floor and shattered even as my feet quickly turned me away from the counter and carried me out of the tiled kitchen. Running swiftly to the bedroom door, I wrenched it open, the ofuda I keep in my backpack already summoned to my hand and ready to be thrown.

I nearly fell on my face as I came to a halt, the ridiculousness of the situation before me alleviating any fear that there was truly danger present.

Shiro-kun was sprawled across my bed, his skin so completely flushed that he was nearly purple. Chest bare and legs sprawled, he was clutching desperately to the tops of his unbuttoned and unzipped jeans with one hand and pointing desperately to Hokuto-chan with a shaking finger carried by the other. "Keep her away from me!" he squawked, his voice shivering with fright.

Shaking my head, I stuffed my ofuda into my black jeans' pockets and crossed my arms. "What happened?"

Hokuto-chan looked at me, her brow furrowed. "He's NOT going to Koya-san in your sweats, Subaru! I won't have it! I'm tired of seeing him in those."

"I like the sweats! Leave me here if you won't let me be seen in public in them!"

Ignoring his protests, she continued. "He's a bit thicker in the hips and waist than you are, so I got some of your baggier jeans to get him dressed."

"And he's protesting the change?" I asked.

"She GROPED ME!" Shiro-kun screeched.

"I did NOT!" Hokuto-chan shot back, her eyes flashing with annoyance. "I was adjusting you because you're too idiotic to do it yourself!"

"I-idiotic! Now you listen here-"

I swiftly interrupted with a chirped, "Ah, Hokuto-chan. You have to remember that he's probably not used to being dressed by someone else."

"But-" she tried to interject.

"I suppose he'll just have to get used to it, neh?" I finished smoothly, smiling at her.

Shiro-kun gulped as we grinned at one another, mirroring each other's faces. "But why? I can dress myself!" he quietly simpered.

"Call it earning your keep. I'm the fashion guru around here, so all public clothing is under my discretion. Now be a good boy and stand back up, will you?" Hokuto-chan brightly giggled.

"But…!"

Walking over, I leaned over the bed and smiled at the poor befuddled boy. "It's best just to do as she asks, Shiro-kun. You don't want to get into a match of stubbornness with my sister. She wins against everyone."

"Even Sakurazuka-san?" he whispered.

"Aa. Even Seishiro-san doesn't stand a chance. He's lost more arguments than I can count against her."

Shiro-kun looked entirely amazed before sniffing. "But she groped me."

"She adjusted you," I clarified.

"But…."

"You don't think I'm used to a man's anatomy? For crying out loud, I have a twin brother that I've been dressing our entire lives, Kamui-kun!" Hokuto-chan huffed before smirking demonically. "Besides, you're not all THAT impressive."

"WHAT!"

I left the room as Hokuto-chan began to happily compare his attributes to my own, feeling my ears already starting to burn with the heat of embarrassment. How she could be so open and so readily proclaim such things in so loud of a voice is far beyond me. I think that between the two of us, I was the only one who managed to get any traits our parents carried involving common courtesy and ethical manners.

This time it wasn't so much of a scream as it was an indignant squeal as Hokuto-chan continued her molestation of my houseguest.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

I sighed quietly as I watched the scenery roll past outside of the thick dusty window I was leaning my head against, endlessly scrolling trees flooding my view of the world beyond my own reflection. Beautifully everlasting green that was darker and more full than the mirrored emerald of my eyes, their branches reached for the heavens themselves, striving to touch the life-giving sun they so thirsted for. Every once in a while, the landscape's brilliance would be shaded by a sudden shadow cast by a floating, innocent cloud that hovered in the effervescence above, its merry bulk blocking the sun's warming rays. But soon enough as the train made its way down its tracks and thundered towards its destination at the foot of sacred Koya-san those shadows would be abandoned to the past, the path left behind, and sunlight would flash victoriously across the day star's domain once again.

It was all very beautiful and calming. If only I were witnessing this for some reason other than work.

I'd been contacted by the head of Koya-san's conglomeration of monks, a respected elder gifted with exceptional skill with precognition who saw that which he foretold in the movements of the stars above him aptly referred to as Stargazer. I've never been privy to the man's true name, nor do I acknowledge that I ever shall be – he is simply Stargazer of Koya-san, a man to be respected and obeyed even by the head of all onmyouji in Japan.

I'm certain, of course, that he as all other temple heads have done would deny my view of the order of precedence of our ranks. For some reason, everyone placed me upon a pedestal that they themselves viewed as untouchable, even though they themselves are so overtly deserving of that respect they deign upon me that I feel humbled to even be present along side of them in their sacred keeps.

Of course, it isn't me they respect. It's the title and the power and responsibilities it holds within its lettering. Head of the Sumeragi, supposedly most powerful of all practitioners of onmyoujitsu in the entirety of Japan and director of the foremost of medium clans in our nation was the person that garnered their reverence. Not Sumeragi Subaru, ordinary onmyouji boy who wanted to be a zookeeper when he grew up.

"Neh, you're sulking again."

I nearly jumped as a finger suddenly poked into my left side, startling me cleanly out of my reverie. "H-Hokuto-chan!" I stammered, my shock keeping my words from coming cleanly from my mouth. Taking a deep breath, I let my heart slow its desperate race towards bursting and my brain regurgitate what she had said so I could reply to it in the next instant. "I wasn't."

"So why were you staring blankly out of the window?"

"I was appreciating the scenery."

Leaning back in her chair, Hokuto-chan giggled lightly behind a smooth, cream-skinned hand. "Appreciating the scenery, Subaru? Really?"

I sighed, looking her over, letting envy grasp my heart for the slightest hint of a moment as I stared at her uncovered hands, my own feeling so stifled in their gloves in the warm train's interior that I wished desperately to throw aside Grandmother's warnings and strip the accursed leather sheaths from my sweating skin. "Aa. Really."

She leaned back in the thick rust cushion that was the backrest of the train bench we were seated in near the front of our car and crossed her legs swiftly, kicking one black leotard clad limb casually as she pulled her short denim shorts a bit further down her legs. Really, you thing she'd choose something a bit longer as to keep it from riding uncomfortably. And you think she'd choose something more appropriate, considering that she knew we were going to Koya-san. A black leotard that ended just above her ankles with extremely short denim shorts sporting bright rainbow-hued patches, a flesh-hugging long-sleeved black shirt with a stripped rainbow colored tube top placed over it to accentuate her breasts, an exceptionally bright white rain coat with a loud yellow smiley-face centered upon its back and thickly soled black Vans hardly seemed the outfit to choose when one's aware that they stand the strong probability of being presented before the Stargazer of Koya-san along side of the thirteenth Sumeragi Head.

She had insisted on coming along, after all. It wasn't as if any of this was without her knowledge and she was strapped for time to choose a bundle of clothing in which to cover herself.

The three of us sitting in the same box with Hokuto-chan beside me and with Shiro-kun across from me and facing us, making our way to the destination of my next job, made me suddenly pine for yet another presence to be there with us, filling that vacant seat beside Shiro-kun. No matter how inappropriately we were dressed, no matter that this was for work in my case and a vacation in the situations of my guest and my sister, I longed to add yet another to the fray, to invite further chaos to accompany me to Koya-san's sacred heights.

I found myself wishing that Seishiro-san could have made time to come along with us. It would have been fabulous to have him accompany us. But he has his job, his responsibilities, and his clients. He can't abandon them.

"Neh, Hokuto-san, he's doing it again."

"I see that, Kamui-kun. SUBARU!"

Cleanly shocked out of my thoughts, I rubbed my aching ear and flushed as I realized everyone in the car had to be staring at us. Rising slightly in my seat, I whimpered a quick apology to all whose eyes were turned towards us before turning a rueful stare to her. Crossing my arms and hugging the bulk of my donned red trench coat around me, I let an irritated huff of breath erupt from my nostrils. "What?"

"What are you sulking about? It's a beautiful day! We're going to Koya-san, a place we've gotten to read about but never visit! We're going to meet the Stargazer! And all you do is stare out of the window with a 'ho hum' look on your face, like you're going to either sigh and die right at my side or sniff and cry the next moment."

"I am not!" I shot back.

"Yes, you are," Shiro-kun chirped from his seat across of me, stuffing his hands into the warm sleeves of the waist-length black leather jacket he'd borrowed from my wardrobe. He'd apparently gotten over his initial complaints of discomfort and had settled into the incredibly tight blue jeans that Hokuto-chan had managed to squeeze him into. Tracing his frame from his sneakers, which were an old pair of mine that I hardly wore anymore and which were quite large on his feet, I glanced up his legs in their almost split-seamed jeans to the black belt wrapped around his middle and then took my gaze up the soft dusty purple dress shirt my sister had managed to dredge out of my dresser for him. The sleeves were a bit long and thus had to be rolled to free his hands for use, but other than that it fit him quite nicely. Lifting my gaze, I focused on his face, which was entirely bereft of any obscuring shadows that might have been cast by a hat as mine assuredly was – Hokuto-chan and Shiro-kun were free of the head coverings, even as their hands were free of gloves. Stopping my appreciating trace over his body and how nicely he cleaned up when Hokuto-chan got her hands onto him, I focused on his face.

He was smiling brightly, his eyes alive with merriment.

Normally I would have been enthused to see his smiling face rid of the sorrow that seems to permanently plague it. His sullen attitude has always been sobering around my house, stifling what joy we tried to include him in upon. I'd been longing since he'd entered my household but a week ago that somehow we'd be able to help the boy, to assist him in lifting the dark gray cloud of desperate depression that clung to him as shadow follows its caster. That very moment when the morose attitude that plagued him lifted, however, I couldn't find any bright merriment in the fact that he was enjoying his time with us and living his life a little more happily. As this was entirely at my own expense, I was less than enthralled with the charm he could show with a smile instead of a sulk upon his features. "I am not," I grunted again.

"Oh, I know what the problem is," Hokuto-chan began with a giggle, holding a finger to her lips as she turned her playful emerald gaze to Shiro-kun.

Leaning forward in his seat, Shiro-kun said quietly, "Nani, nani, Hokuto-san?"

I barely found the self-restraint to keep myself from slapping my forehead soundly as she brightly exclaimed for the entire train car to hear, "He's pining over Sei-chan's absence! Ah, an entire weekend without his dear Seishiro-san at his side to hold and molest him!"

My cheeks felt as if they could sizzle eggs to a crisp as I held my head. It didn't make matters any better when she broke into her silvery laughter. "H-Hokuto-chan! It's… it's not like that!" I cried out desperately.

"Oh?" she asked cheerfully, peeking out from behind an upraised hand. "Are you telling me that your heart isn't wailing for Sei-chan? How unfaithful!"

"Hokuto-chan," I simpered into my gloved hands, burying my face into the protective blackness my digits provided.

"Ah, he can not deny the truth! Sei-chan will be so happy to know he had Subaru's longing all weekend long!"

Shiro-kun simply shook his head, no laugh but no denial coming from him.

What a start to a weekend.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

"Sugoi!"

"Wow, it really is as beautiful as Sorata always said it is!"

I didn't bother staring appreciatively at the mountain that rose majestically before us as my sister and Shiro-kun had decided to do. Rather I began my sojourn along the gravel path that was destined to deposit me at the door of the shrine in which those monks who'd met us at Koya-san's foot had told me the Stargazer was to be found. I was already running quite late due to our near inability to garner a cab to get us from the train station to the gates of the massive Koya-san site. Shiro-kun's brilliance was all that had gained us a ride – he'd shoved Hokuto-chan onto the corner of the street we were standing on. We'd both stared, Shiro-kun with triumph in his eyes and myself with disbelief, as a cab roared to a halt and the window rolled down.

It had taken every last shred of decency I had dwelling within me not to march to that cab's driver's door, wrench it open and haul that cab driver out to punch him square in the nose when he'd wolf whistled at my sister and proclaimed that if she'd get into his cab he'd take her anywhere she wanted to go, and if she was strapped for cash he'd let her pay a 'different way.' Normally I'm not a violent person; actually, I'm largely pacifistic, not wishing any harm to any person I come across. However, him referring to my sister as if she was a common street whore nearly set previously inexperienced rage over me.

Of course, given the way she was dressed, I suppose I could almost forgive him for the way he drooled on himself as he looked Hokuto-chan up and down. Almost.

Shiro-kun had just patted me on my shoulder and merrily chirped that we had a ride before grabbing my wrist and hauling me towards the cab. He'd been the one to open the door, shove me in, shove Hokuto-chan in after me, and tell the cab driver where we'd wanted to go.

When the driver had seen that the girl was quite accompanied (and perhaps he'd noticed that me, her nearly identical twin, was glaring murderously at his back for the entire trip) he'd revoked his inappropriate attention and treated us as normal customers for the duration of the trip.

I may not be a violent person, but I've got enough of a vicious streak in me to not give a person like him more than one yen for a tip.

After that eventful little ride, Hokuto-chan had opened her suitcase and drawn free from its confines her dreaded camcorder, intending to record our first trip to Japan's spiritual tourist trap on video. Goodness knows her collection's large enough, but she always felt obligated to add to it. She had quickly scanned the area, managing to catch me in her camera's eye before I'd had the opportunity to dodge away, chirping brightly that she and 'the Subaru' as she always referred to me on video were finally at Koya-san, accompanied by Kamui-kins, her new pretty doll. Shiro-kun had glowered as she caught him in the camera and demanded that he smile on his film debut and sparkle as brightly as the landscape around us.

Yes, it was my first time to Koya-san. I should have, by all rights, taken the time to take in the beauty and splendor of the huge, pristine establishment. However, all that was on my mind was the job I had been hired to accomplish and the thought that if I got it done quickly, I'd be able to return to Tokyo, to Seishiro-san, to my comfortable and familiar bed and my stack of still uncompleted homework just that much sooner.

Sometimes it seems that my dedication to my job ruins my ability to go to any tourist trap and thoroughly enjoy it. Indeed, it had already taken me to Ise, which I'd hardly garnered a glance at due to the fact that first I was busily absorbing information about the job I was to be doing and second I was dodging urns and fighting off an irate deceased Wind Master. It had taken me to Fuji, which while impressive in the first few moments I stared at it soon lost its attention-grabbing attraction when my job contact had approached me to begin presenting her situation to me. The same had happened in Okinawa just a couple of months ago. And the Moss Temple in Kyoto. And Taiwan, when I'd received the opportunity to travel to that country to chase down a rouge onmyouji who was up to absolutely no good and trying to escape the policing eyes of the Sumeragi and all others who practice our art in Japan.

And it was doing the same here at Koya-san, I noticed. While Hokuto-chan was busily filming and Shiro-kun gawking while they meandered with the two monks who'd met us at the foremost gates of the establishment to take in all the sights they could before being shown to their rooms, I was bypassing all of the splendor and antique beauty on my mission to learn more about the job I'd been hired for. My mind was already dedicated to getting to Stargazer before I was too overly late for our appointed meeting.

Breaking into a jog, I hurried as carefully as I could along the path I'd been directed to follow. Tracing its curved and undulating course, I grumbled as I checked my watch. Only three minutes….

And before I'd had the opportunity to notice it, I was staggering as my foot connected with the hard wood of man-made steps leading towards the remote establishment my contact was in. Stumbling in a desperate attempt to maintain my balance, I nearly fell up the stairs and barely managed to catch myself before falling flat on my face on the main deck.

With a relieved sigh as my wobbling came to an end and terminated the chance of a bruised nose with my thankfully upright stance at the end of my moment of awkwardness, I took one step forward as I straightened my hat.

I was promptly bowled over by a little fleeing boy.

We went down in a tangle of orange colored robes denoting the child's connection to Koya-san, of red trench coat and flailing limbs. My hat skittered away even as my head very nearly connected with the floor, my slight roll to my shoulder being all that saved me from a concussion as the wildly wriggling creature came to nestle against my chest.

Lifting his head from the cloth of my shirt he held his bruised nose with a rueful squawk and tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. He'd banged his face solidly against me. My own sternum was aching from having the cross that was attached to my zipper pull firmly mashed into my flesh.

"Are you alright?" I asked a few moments later, reaching up with one hand, utilizing the other to keep my balance, and lightly patting his head.

"Itei!" he whined, rubbing his face even as he plowed his elbows into my ribs to prop his body up. I barely managed to suppress a wince of discomfort.

"SORATA! Get back here!"

The boy turned as the stranger's loud voice boomed along the wooden walkway. Grinning impishly, he picked up the rice ball I'd not even noticed he'd dropped by my side and ran as quickly as his feet could carry him, his first step being a bound off my belly and his second missing my arm by the merest fraction of a centimeter. Moments later two young adults clothed in the robes of Koya-san tore past me in hot pursuit of the fleeing child. The third of the gathering of child-wrangler hopefuls stopped to look me over. Offering me a hand, he smiled gently. "Are you alright?"

I couldn't answer his innocent question. I was far to busy trying to cough my lungs up in a vain attempt to regain the ability to breath, which had been thoroughly stolen by the bounding boy's utilization of my body as a trampoline to grant him momentum.

Saving me the trouble of having to answer him, the monk simply stooped and grasped my arm. Dragging me to my feet, he held me as I wobbled, another cough and a wheeze sliding from between my lips. "Where are you headed?"

Head hanging, I grunted out my answer before trying to inhale again, my wind finally returning to my lungs. "Stargazer."

Blinking once the man shook his head. "One can see the sacred Stargazer of Koya-san by appointment alone, sir."

A third voice interrupted my attempt to answer the young man and inform him that I was permitted to see him. We both turned as one towards the sliding rice paper door that shielded the interior of the humble shrine we were at as a quiet, ancient voice oozed from its hidden depths, "He has my blessing. Please, bring him in."

Without further questions, the monk at my side slid open the door and looked to me.

Forgoing his aid, I smiled and bowed to him as I removed my arm from his grip. "Thank you for your assistance, kind sir," I remembered to say before turning for my destination. Checking my watch, I sighed. Only four minutes late. A record!

Turning my gaze towards the person who was my destination, I smiled. The wrinkled old man turned his bright, sparkling eyes to me and mimicked my beam even as he bowed deeply to me from his seat upon his thick white cushion. Bending at the waist, I returned his bow, sinking as deeply as I could without losing my balance entirely. After all, not only was he an elder to me, he was the revered Stargazer. To do any less would be a blatant lack of respect.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, Sumeragi-san," he began, his thick voice soft and inviting as he waved a hand idly over his shoulder. From behind a partition behind him featuring lightly painted green bamboo leaves and rust colored birds emerged a young boy in the white and orange robes of the territory bearing a cushion similar to the one that Stargazer was seated upon. Laying it before my knees, the boy bowed to me before silently leaving.

Muttering a quick thanks to the boy as he retreated, I bowed as Stargazer waved his hand at me, indicating that I had permission to be seated. Folding my legs under me I sank onto the cushion, relaxing with nearly an audible sigh as the quality cushion saved me from standing any further and bathed my knees in soft downy comfort. Staring at my reflection in the highly waxed floor for a moment, gathering my courage to view this highly revered man in the eyes, I took a breath and lifted my gaze. My smile as bright as before, I nodded. "It is no problem at all, Stargazer-dono. I thank you on the behalf of my family for choosing to utilize us in your time of need."

He seemed quite amused at my answer and chuckled deeply. "Ah, you are as polite as your Grandmother has said. Come now, let us relax some of these formalities."

I could already feel my cheeks heating as I ducked my head. "Hai, Stargazer-dono," I muttered.

"Now, as for the job I have hired you for, would you like me to give you the details of our troubles now or wait until after dinner?"

"Please, let us begin," I said, my business façade falling easily into place, my mind removing itself from my personal discomfort and the awkward situation of being before Japan's most prominent precognition expert and delving into the comfortable familiarity of the onmyouji on the job.

---)))000(((---)))000(((---)))000(((---

I rubbed my arms as I paced the shore of the small pond in which the disturbance Koya-san had contracted me to abolish had been noted to occur. It was a chilly night, the cold of the deep autumn environment steeping through the black curtain of sky that covered all the heavens and a cool wind blowing vengefully over the waters of that pond and through the waters of the fall that splashed noisily into it to replenish its depths at all times helping to amplify the effects of the removal of the sun's warming rays. The cool moon's light bathed the darkened landscape, highlighting everything in soft tones of white and gray, casting a nearly midnight blue over all I laid my eyes upon.

It was just the atmosphere to make one's heart race that night. I was in a foreign environment, trapped in a location I'd never before been witness to. Tall trees towered over me, their tops stretching towards the sparkling stars, obscuring from my line of vision the familiar constellations in which I took comfort. Their twisted branches snaked across the sky, casting spider web shadows over the moon and across the stars' home, an image blacker than the sunless sky to my sight. Moonlight skittered over the small pond's surface, highlighting ripples that danced towards the smooth shore, catching on the droplets and sprays of water that flew from the thin yet powerful stream of water that poured from the overhang that shadowed the pond's deepest end. The falls pounded mightily onto the long, flat rocks at its base, those stones that once were the seats of praying monks abandoned now for weeks due to the volatile attacks that had occurred in this sacred place. The howling wind whistled across the landscape, rustling eerily through protesting branches, sweeping away dying leaf, bending weakened grass blades. Gusts of air carried the spray from that fall, stealing its contents even as it fell at times and swiping the splash that erupted from the rocks within that pond's waters and carrying its wet load to shore to be scattered aimlessly amongst plants and upon me.

It only made things worse to be privy to the soft cackling of a human voice, all but obscured by the deafening roar of that small powerhouse of pouring water.

Stargazer had informed me that four attacks had occurred in that pond. At first believing the perpetrator to be of the realms of the living, the monks had resorted to their own magic and incantations. Nothing favorable had resulted from their efforts, predictably.

Every ward placed by those monks had failed. Every attempt to drive the aggressor away had been cast in vain. And after the fourth attack, that one befalling a tourist who had wandered from the beaten path to set eyes upon the small, sacred pond, the head of Koya-san's conglomeration of monks had decided to call upon the Sumeragi clan for assistance.

Walking to the shore, I took another careful look at the waters. Nothing here was overly unique, nothing incredibly special in terms of the Koya-san complex, to warrant a spirit binding itself to it. Simply a pond with a waterfall, a site replicated in multitude about the sacred mountain.

I was bound and determined to discover why the spirit that was troubling this land would tie itself to this particular pond before bothering attempting to confront it. Best to enter a situation with a bit of knowledge, if it could be afforded. It saves ofuda. And it saves my body from the pain of being bludgeoned.

As I glanced at the ground, something caught my eye. Taking a step forward, I decided to get a better look.

It was at the moment my boot was kissed by the lapping ripples of that pond that the quiet cackling erupted into a powerful scream of rage. Before I could assess what had happened, the auras of the world around me twisted, distorting completely.

I couldn't dodge before the spiritual energy surrounding me exploded into action, sending the full force of that small waterfall's energy to me. Sputtering as the freezing liquid slammed into me, I went down.

Clammy hands gripped my wrist as it splashed into the pond.

My eyes shut to ward against the spray of water that was still relentlessly being diverted from its natural termination and instead being sent to pound me into the pond's beach, I screeched in shock even as whatever had grasped me attempted to wrench me into the pond. My body sliding towards that icy reservoir, I struggled as mightily as I could, digging my feet and my fingers into the sandy shore.

As my fingers managed to find a large rock buried into the ground, I resisted the urge to cheer, keeping my lips clamped shut to keep the drenching water from that fall from drowning me. Gripping that stone as tightly as I could, I turned my head to gasp for direly necessitated breath as whatever it was that had my other wrist yanked my limb harshly.

My shoulder popped painfully and I screamed.

Turning as well as I could, I sent my foot towards my attacker, intent on kicking it away.

No effect was granted to my effort. My head swimming as pain raced along my arm and my side, I thought as desperately as I could.

A chant quickly flew to mind.

Speaking the words as quickly and sincerely as I could, my turned head freeing my lips for a few moments between gushes of drenching water to the air, I called upon the spiritual energy about me. I was going to do whatever I could to free myself. Even if it involved severing the hand that held me, that intended to drag me to a watery grave.

Wind burst about me, razor sharp and wicked as it lashed but inches from my fingertips and no further. A startled cry met my ears even as those fingers released me and the waterfall fell immediately back into its natural cascade.

A moment later, that same voice laughed quietly. "I'd forgotten such can't harm me anymore," it hissed softly.

I wasn't paying much attention to that soft chuckle. I was focusing instead on scrambling away from the shore.

Once my feet once again scraped against grass, I turned and stared at the pond.

It was empty.

The cackling was gone.

A soft sigh escaped my lips as realization washed over me. The spirit I'd faced had retreated. There would be no further encounters that night. Why it had left me, I had no inkling of. There was no reason for it to abandon its fight.

Or perhaps it realized that it was dealing with a practitioner of magic and not a simple tourist, and had retreated to formulate a plan focused on crushing me.

Shaking my head, I staggered before seating myself on the ground. Groaning as I laid a hand over my chest, I heaved for breath, fighting to keep the dinner I'd had in the company of Koya-san's head in my stomach and to keep my heart beating as it stumbled clumsily a few times.

I'd not intended to kill or obliterate my attacker. That was all that rescued me from unconsciousness, or worse. Without an established recipient to redirect spiritual energy onto, without the will to mirror such punishment for my actions onto an innocent being that didn't deserve it, I took everything resulting from my casting onto myself. Thus doing what I had just done always carried heavy consequences.

Laying down as my breath returned to me, I groaned as my head pounded relentlessly. I hadn't intended to kill. I had, however, been completely focused on maiming, on harming. That in of itself was wicked, invoking the darker side of our Art.

And curse magic always returns to its caster.

Minutes stretched into nearly an hour as I waited for the headache brought on by my spell's backlash to abate. It took almost as long for my eyes to regain the ability to pinpoint individual stars from the swirling black mass of night that hung above me.

Sight finally returned to me, I rose from the grass to stare at the pond once more. My right hand slid to my wrenched left shoulder, holding it tenderly as my lips turned with a grimace of pain. It hurt, certainly, but it wasn't nearly so bad as what had been delivered to me at Ise just a week ago. Those wounds had barely escaped being reopened, thankfully.

Walking to the shore of that pond once more, I listened carefully for that soft cackling I'd heard before, for any movement other than the whistling wind's stirring about me, for any indication at all that I was not the only being possessing a human spirit in the vicinity of that water mass. As silence filled my ears and my senses became acutely familiar with the lack of that evil aura in my immediate milieu, I allowed myself to relax and instead returned my attention to what had grasped it before.

My eyes took but a second to locate that oddly white sliver I'd spotted amongst the rounded brown stones that littered the pond's shore before I'd been accosted by the resident poltergeist of the area. Walking to it, I knelt and retrieved it swiftly, taking a few paces back once it was in my hand.

Looking at my prize, I felt my stomach turn.

It was a human finger.

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I sat on the porch outside of the room that had been assigned to me and Shiro-kun in my soft navy pajamas, slowly turning that item I'd retrieved at the pond I'd visited over in my hand and pondering exactly what had occurred at that sacred site.

The digit I held was hardly touched by the forces of entropy at all. Possibly preserved by the chilled waters, it was in relatively good condition, only beginning to show hints of decay at the oddly cleanly severed base. The ghastly white flesh shone brightly in the moonlight as I turned it over again to look at that joint where it once had connected to a hand.

A medical professional I am not. Anything but at this point, I'd like to point out. Perhaps someday I would be able to add a more educated analysis to my work, but for the moment I'm naught but a high school student with dreams of being an animal handler.

Seishiro-san would be able to help me with this. Even though he is a veterinarian, he's had to go through the rigors of medical training to attain his degree. He would be able to add a more schooled opinion to my own.

However, to my woefully untrained eye, it looked as if the finger I held in my hand had been deliberately severed. The flesh was smooth, the slightest hint of raggedness eating along the skin. The bone was splintered down the middle, but scored along its termination. It didn't look like a break – I've seen enough broken bones in my life to be able to discern that.

I left that evening looking for answers. I'd returned with naught but more questions.

Shaking my head, I put the finger down on the small table that decorated our porch and decided to leave my mysterious clue and my pursuit of this spirit's purpose to wait for the morning. I'd return to the pond on Saturday to continue my investigation.

Walking inside, I shut the sliding door as quietly as I could. With a nod, I rolled out my futon, grimacing only a little as I put my arm into use. It worked fine thanks to the attentions of those monks who saw to our needs. They'd assisted me in fully relocating it back into its socket. Sorata-chan, the little boy who'd run me over earlier, had insisted that I go to the doctor.

It was fine, actually. A couple of Motrin, and I was feeling worlds better. A bit more massage over the next few days, and I'd be as good as new. It was something I'd experienced before – from falling out of trees and catching myself with one hand on the way down on a limb, from being hurled off of rooftops by irate spirits and snatching a ledge with my fingertips to being shoved out of windows by cursed inugami and barely managing to save myself from death at the cost of my right arm's comfort with nearly dislocated elbow and socket, it was a sensation I was atrociously familiar with.

As the futon flopped noisily, I winced. I'd not meant to make so much noise, especially when Shiro-kun must be sleeping.

Fortunately the boy didn't stir. At least, he didn't stir any beyond his normal tossing and turning that accompanied the nightmares that accosted him.

Looking at him as he folded himself in his blankets and his red satin pajamas then whimpered into his pillow, I let the sigh in my lungs leak past my lips. He really didn't seem to ever be gifted with a decent night's sleep.

I pitied him. I'd had the same problems when I was a child. Hokuto-chan was my savior, helping me through those terrible nights, accompanying me into slumber and chasing those nightmares that threatened to plague me far away.

My eyes blinked rapidly as they took in my new situation. I'd not even noticed that I'd moved to Shiro-kun's futon, or that I'd lightly begun to caress his cheek. Biting my lip nervously, I lifted my hand; my brain turned rapidly in my skull as it attempted to figure out what had just happened and what had driven me to so boldly touch him.

He'd stilled at my touch. I stared as he shifted slightly on his bed, seeming to seek my fingers again when I withdrew them from his cherubic face.

Another sigh escaping me, I shook my head. The boy needed comfort, much as I did when I was younger, much the same as what Hokuto-chan had provided for me. The 'Kamui,' while almighty and all-powerful, was still a human boy in need of human companionship and a soothing touch.

And given how familiarly he addressed me, how pleased he always seemed to be when in my presence over the last week he'd been in my house, something told me that I was one who may have been providing that comfort in his time. That I could offer it in this end of the decade.

Seishiro-san would never have to know, of course. And if he ever did discover, there was nothing he needed to worry about – this wasn't infidelity. It was offering comfort to a friend. Nothing more.

Pushing my futon mat to lay beside Shiro-kun's, I laid down beside him and lightly rested my hand upon his arm. He immediately responded, curling against me with a soft and relieved sigh and wrapping his arms around me in turn.

Closing my eyes, I allowed the warmth of the blanket and the comfort of my environ lull me towards that dark, soothing blackness called sleep. The plush softness of the futon below me, the quality blanket over me, those thin arms around me and that small frame beginning to nestle against my own all pulled me into an irresistible haze of satisfaction that allowed the worries of my day and the horrors of my early night to fade into obscurity, waiting to be resurrected with the sun's rise into the sky. A smile touched my lips as I lightly pressed my nose into the feathery wisps of black hair that brushed along my face while Shiro-kun pushed his nose against my neck, nestling in the comfort of human companionship.

It was quiet. It was peaceful. It brought back so many memories of nights in Kyoto, with another black-haired head nestled under my chin and a different set of arms wrapped about my waist.

"Mmmm… Subaru…."

I sighed as Shiro-kun's soft voice found my ears. Barely aware of the waking world, I distantly heard myself mutter, "What is it?"

The boy pressed himself more firmly against my body. My eyes flew open, the haze of oncoming sleep stolen from me as his condition was presented clearly to me. "Mmmm. Subaru…." He whimpered again.

He was dreaming. And apparently having a decent dream for once.

Blushing furiously, I shook my head before turning him forcefully onto his other side. I was more than shocked that Shiro-kun didn't awaken, but rather whimpered and rolled right back over.

After three more attempts, I simply gave up. Wrapping my arms around his frame, I brought him close once more and pressed my nose back into the warmth of his hair.

As his dream passed and his sleep became calm, I lost myself to slumber as the night finally adopted a sheen of unbreakable serenity.

_tbc..._


	7. Begin Anew

Sorry for the excruciatingly long wait, but I was on deployment. No opportunity to upload when one's floating about in the middle of an ocean, after all.

Review replies: Thanks to everyone who reviewed this when I was out! You were all a great source of inspiration, motivating me to continue with this little tale. That kind of gracious recognition of my work is hereby rewarded with gratuitous amounts of writing. Hope you enjoy it! If not, feel free to smack me. :)

DISCLAIMER: I don't own X or Tokyo Babylon, nor do I hold rights to any of the characters held within those works. They all belong to the four goddesses of Clamp. I'm just borrowing them for my own sick pleasure.

WARNINGS: Alternate timeline, Kamui-chan thrown into Tokyo Babylon. Terrible representation of Japan (well, I've never been there. Excuse the hell out of me) with no proper placement of important areas/buildings/etc. The Sumeragi Twins partake in indecent behavior (I blame Hokuto-chan's lack of modesty), weird astrological predictions, and more Sorata cameos.

Read at your own risk.

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I groaned as I stretched my fingers towards the pastel sky that swept above me, reaching towards the fluffy clouds that hovered overhead. A tired smile touching my lips, I let my eyes finally open once more to take in the beautiful sight of the fresh morning upon the lofty expanse of Koya-san. Squinting in the bright light, I decided that breakfast could wait a few moments and that my bones and the warmth they sought to absorb from the newly risen sun took priority over the needs of my stomach.

I'd woken early to witness the sunrise, taking pleasure in the simple things that constituted a significant difference between this temporary shelter at Koya-san's impressive complex and Tokyo's Shinjuku. There hadn't been an alarm clock's blaring horn to rouse me, but rather the soft chirping of birds and the rustles of early morning life rousing to greet the day's star upon its horizon. I'd not smelled the delectable scent of Hokuto-chan's breakfast spectaculars signifying that I was already running late and had to hurry myself to get all I needed accomplished before dashing from the house for the bus station, but rather the crisp scent of morning dew and a fresh breeze snaking over dampened grass.

I'd woken to a warm lump cuddled against me, his body pressed comfortably to mine, conforming with eerie perfection against my own frame. His lips were tickling my neck, his bangs brushing my nose, his arms wrapping about my waist and holding me prisoner. All in all, it was quite comfortable. Almost too comfortable, one might say, as my body was thoroughly enjoying such delectable contact.

It had taken every ounce of stealth in my possession to sneak away from that intoxicating touch and weasel my person out of the room without disturbing him.

As the bright and cheerful songs of birds calling to one another either in greeting or with challenge flew over the crisp atmosphere, I was dimly aware of the sound of shuffling feet approaching me. Wiggling my own sandal-lacking toes in the dew-touched grass, breathing in the refreshing scent of bent blade and far-off autumn leaves carried upon the barely present breeze that chilled my pajama-protected flesh, I let whoever it was that had decided to approach me come unchallenged. It would be no one of concern, no one with any ill intent towards my person. I'd be able to sense a hostile aura approaching me.

No, this aura was far from hostile. It was tired and grumpy to be certain but levied no harmful wishes towards me.

"What're you doing out here so early, Subaru?" the intruder's voice muttered, still thick with slumber.

Turning, I cast my new guest in the damp field outside of the building my room was situated in a gaily-lit smile. "Enjoying the morning breeze. Come to join me, Shiro-kun?"

Shiro-kun gazed at me with dark eyes obscured almost entirely by their thick black lashes. "Nm. It's early."

"That's noted," I marked with a nod.

"When's breakfast?" he yawned out next, taking the opportunity to stretch as I had, his red pajama top snaking up his thin frame as he reached for the blue-stained heavens above.

I shook my head as he shivered when the wind chose that very moment in which his top rode its highest to slide across his flesh. "In an hour."

"Mm. Enough time to wash up and change. Don't tell me Hokuto-san's coming into our room to accost us."

An innocent, unknowing shrug moved my shoulders. "I truthfully have no idea," I admitted. I fully expected Hokuto-chan to burst into our room at any time. She hardly has ever shown any regard for gender lines at any point in our shared lives – why should she begin now?

"Well, maybe if I'm already dressed she won't be able to do anything," the boy hopefully grumped, his eyes darting with uncertainty back towards our room as if searching for signs of an already attempted break into our dormitory. "Going to come along?" he asked a moment later, turning his eyes back towards me.

"I'll be along soon. Go ahead and finish with your bath first, Shiro-kun," I suggested even as I turned my gaze back to the woods that sprawled majestically along the mountain's span. The sounds his feet made as he shuffled through the thick grass back towards the building that acted as our home for the weekend touched my ears, barely defeating the bright birds' songs in volume and soon being smothered by both song and whistling breeze as he retreated into the distance. Once again on my own, I laced my fingers together behind my back and resumed my observations of the sky above, watching cloud and leaf blow past while birds flew swiftly towards their intended destinations.

Everything was so very peaceful, so very quiet, that it was hard to believe that what I'd taken part in last night had been reality. Part of my mind had attempted to play off the fight I'd partaken with the spirit in had been a nightmarish concoction of my overactive imagination, brought on by too many Saturday night movie specials and engrossing horror novels. However, evidence had been painfully present to support the reality of Koya-san's situation.

My lips turned their corners towards my chin. That ghastly fingertip was still sitting upon the small table out on the porch that flanked the room Shiro-kun and I were bunking in, blending in so very well with the soft white wooden furniture that my roommate's eyes had missed it entirely during his exhausted shuffling about the premises. That severed chunk of flesh, which should not have been present at one of the holy mountain's cleansing pools.

Something terrible had happened on Koya-san. That was all I could be certain of at the moment, all I could firmly set my finger on.

That digit had been severed. The scoring along the edge might have been giving a hint that I simply was too inexperienced to read.

Perhaps Hokuto-chan could assist me. If anyone was familiar with the cuts made by knives, it was most definitely her.

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It happened that I didn't have to seek out my sister that morning. Indeed, when I'd finally decided that my body was properly warmed by the soft rays of the sun and that the outside world could offer me no more comfort than it already had, that it was time to return to the inside of the manmade structure I was residing in for the weekend to bathe and don my clothing for the day's activities, she was already in our room and busily chasing Shiro-kun about with a bundle of cloth in her arms.

"Neh, Hokuto-chan…?" I desperately attempted to interrupt, seeking not only to garner her attention but also to perhaps provide some path of salvation to the poor amethyst-eyed focus of her hunt.

She momentarily paused her pursuit to turn her emerald glance towards me, her long blue sundress with its pretty yellow daisy design flaring dramatically about her thin body and her yellow daisy earrings sweeping by her cheeks, granting Shiro-kun his opportunity to escape. The boy hurriedly burst through the rice-paper door in naught but his towel, his bare feet slapping loudly upon the wooden deck outside as he tore down the hallway in search of salvation from my sister's manic attention. It was a bare second until she'd noticed his departure and lamented about it. "Mou! This had better be good, Subaru. It took me forever to get these together!"

"Ah, gomen, neesan," I quietly apologized with a bow of my head. As I was escorted by a hand upon my elbow towards my bath, I turned my gaze back towards her. "I have a question for you. I was wondering if you could ponder over it while I'm in the bath?"

"Mm, I suppose," Hokuto quietly said, her eyes losing their playful edge and adopting a more respectable, businesslike sheen to their bright surfaces. "What's bothering you, Subaru?"

Laying my hand upon the wooden frame of the paper door that would obscure my bathing from the rest of the world, I turned away from her and stepped into the small room that contained the tub I was to use that morning. Pulling my nightshirt off, I handed it dutifully to my sister, accepting the gloves she'd chosen for me to wear that day in its stead. Standing before her bare-chested and dour, I cast my gaze towards the door that lead outside of our room to the grand grassy landscape that surrounded our dormitory complex. "On the table outside is something I found last night. I think it's key to figuring out what happened here at Koya-san to cause their problems. I was wondering if you could take a look at it and tell me what you think?"

"Hm," she started, her thin fingernails lying upon her bottom lip, "I suppose I could. Hurry with your bath, though. I've got a full schedule for all of us today! We're going to eat anpan and vegetable stir fry, and hit some of the meditation pools, ascend the mountain and pray at the topmost shrine-"

"Hokuto-chan, you can't go there! You're a girl!"

"Oh pish posh! They won't stop the twin of the head of the Sumeragi, and you know it," she hastily dismissed even as she laid her hands upon my chest and shoved me towards my bathtub. "You interrupted me! After that, we're going biking through the woods, then we'll get some rice balls! And we can go see all the ancient temples we can cram in one day!"

Even as I drew my bath, I stared at her over my shoulder. "I have to work, Hokuto-chan."

"It's Saturday, Subaru. You've got time. Relax! Enjoy a pseudo-vacation for once! Oh, and breakfast is in twenty minutes."

A huff escaped my nose as I reached over to slide the door shut before doffing my pajama bottoms. Twenty minutes to get bathed and dressed before presenting myself and my discoveries of the night before to those who were concerned and who'd requested my assistance? Great.

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I bathed as quickly as I could and was immediately greeted by my sister even as I pulled the plug from the bathtub.

"You're running late as usual, Subaru," she laughed brightly even as she dropped a bundle of clothes on the floor. Routing through them, she started humming merrily.

I felt that I could outdo the Crayola company for presenting the most shades of red at one moment in time as I flushed brightly, the fact that my sister was kneeling at my feet digging through my decided-upon attire while I was dripping wet and nude not escaping me at all as it had apparently had escaped her.

Rising, she shoved boxers in my hands. "Get dressed."

"H-hai, Hokuto-chan," I whimpered even as I turned away for modesty's sake. God, she could be so awkward at times! What if someone walked in on us? It's a men's dormitory, after all! Nothing would stop Shiro-kun or any of the monks or-

"HEY! Why's there a beautiful miss in here?"

Or that little Sorata boy from entering.

Hokuto-chan just laughed her silvery laugh, lifting a hand to her lips to cover them in a fainted show of modesty. "Oh ho ho ho! You hear that, Subaru? I'm a beautiful miss!"

"A beautiful miss that shouldn't be in here," I grumped quietly as I finished yanking my boxers over my scant hips. "Really, Hokuto-chan. You'll wake everyone else!"

"They're all awake, Subaru. You are the one who's running late. You and Kamui-kun, seeing as how I haven't seen him again to give him his clothing for the day!"

"Is Kamui-kun that guy that's running around in his bath towel?" Sorata-chan chirped as he marched over to us and flopped onto his bottom beside Hokuto-chan's feet. I awkwardly stood over the two of them, my hands subconsciously ensuring that my boxers were firmly in place and not going anywhere, my skin lobster-red from my embarrassed flush.

Hokuto-chan simply shoved a pair of khaki pants at me, her eyes focused entirely on the little boy beside her as she smiled. I accepted my clothing hastily and yanked it on, noting that the coloration of the clothing she'd chosen for me matched the soft tan gloves my dear sister had pushed into my hands before I'd commenced with my bath. Even as I dressed, she merrily conversed with the boy, proclaiming, "Yep! He's the one! Could you be a dear and fetch him for us?"

"But he was begging robes off of Shyou-san last time I saw him. Do you want me to interrupt him while he's changing?"

"Robes! He's going to be in those orange temple robes? Oh, they'll look simply awful on him!" Hokuto-chan burst in dismay, her face instantly drooping in disapproval.

"Neh, Hokuto-chan-"

I was interrupted by a shirt, white in color and button-up, being shoved in my hands. I hastily pulled it on and started doing every clasp that would hold it in place.

"Yep! He's going to be in robes in breakfast." The boy stopped speaking for a moment, cocking his head slightly. "Speaking of breakfast, we're late! Oh no! Come on, pretty miss! We've got to go! Oh, and you too, mister!"

Hokuto-chan rose to her feet and smiled brightly, patting the small boy's head with her slender hand. "We'll be right behind you. Why don't you start without us?"

Scrunching up his button-nose, Sorata-chan huffed. "It would be very unmanly of me to go to breakfast without escorting you, pretty miss. I've got to be cou.. cor… cer…."

"Courteous?" I promptly assisted even as my shirt was assaulted and the top three buttons swiftly undone by ungloved hands so very similar to my own.

"Yeah! What he said. I can't leave you alone! That'd be rude," the boy said with a hasty nod.

Hokuto-chan smiled wistfully even as I chuckled under my breath. "Well," she started, "then give me a few moments to finish dressing my brother."

"Alright!" the boy burst, his smile taking his entire face. "So, why'd'ya have to dress him? He can't dress himself?"

"Terrible fashion sense," Hokuto-chan easily answered as she flopped a limp beret on my head and snapped dark brown suspenders onto my pants – backwards, I might add, so the cross that should've been situated in the small of my back instead was pressed to my navel.

I wisely remained silent, suffering it all for her sake. After all, I do love my dear sister.

She smiled as she yanked a thin brown leather jacket around my shoulders.

Yes, I love my sister. No matter how much she aggravates the hell out of me.

Sorata nodded when she turned away from me and gave him a thumbs-up. "Cool!" he chirped before getting to his feet and dusting off his knees. "Now we're off to breakfast! Follow me, miss. And you too, mister!"

"Sure thing!" Hokuto-chan giggled, grabbing my wrist and dragging me forcibly along. "Neh, Subaru, about that thing you had me check out?"

"Yes?" I eagerly asked, my eyes widening.

"I'll talk to you about it after breakfast. I think you were right in your assumption."

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Breakfast was fairly uneventful (save for Hokuto-chan lamenting like crazy over Shiro-kun's rather traditional attire and how it looked terrible mixed with his pale complexion and amethyst eyes). It was the events that followed that would mark the morning as memorable.

First I'd had my discussion with Hokuto-chan. That in of itself was interesting.

We'd met immediately after breakfast as I was walking out of the grand hall we'd all met in to share our porridge with eggs and rice balls. I was intent on standing out in that refreshing sun and relaxing breeze some more when she stepped to my side and lay her hand upon my arm. "Neh, let's go talk," she quietly tasked me, steering me towards a remote area far enough from the buildings that no one would hear us.

We'd arrived at a small collection of boulders situated in the lush grasses a good distance from the trees. Hokuto-chan immediately hopped onto one of the smaller, flatter precipices and seated herself. Patting the stone seat next to her, she smiled at me. I immediately made myself comfortable, lounging in the warm sun's rays. My head lolled slightly to my right, coming to a cozy rest upon my sister's shoulder, my hair lightly brushing her soft cheek.

Sighing in quiet satisfaction, I closed my eyes even as her hand lightly rested upon my cheek, her delicate fingertips brushing upon my skin with teasing gentleness. Her hand slid from my face to instead rest itself upon my shoulder, encasing me in a subtle hug before she dared to break the calming silence that existed around us. "Where did you get that finger?" she finally questioned.

Wow, did that instantly destroy the mood. As memories of last night's encounter rushed back to me, the feel of the cold breeze upon my skin, the sensation of the chilled pond water touching my flesh, the bitter sting of the waterfall's offerings pummeling me into the soft ground, I shuddered violently.

"Subaru?" Hokuto-chan softly pressed, tightening her grip on my slightly shaking shoulder.

"The pond in question. It was in some stones on the shoreline. It looked like it had been washed up," I answered, lifting my skull from its resting place then shaking my head once to rattle the memories of that haunting cackle from my ears.

"Mm. That would explain the condition it's in. Looks like it's overly hydrated. Hasn't had the opportunity to dry out."

Opening my eyes, I cast my gaze towards her. Hokuto-chan was frowning, lightly biting her bottom lip.

"It was cut by a steak knife."

"How could you determine that, Hokuto-chan?" I quickly questioned, my brows arching towards my hairline in disbelief.

"I've cut enough stuff with steak knives to recognize that kind of scoring, Subaru! Geez. What kind of cook do you take me for!"

"Eh, gomen, Hokuto-chan."

Nodding once, she let her shoulders slump. "It was cut right at the joint. Knife was serrated and very sharp. But there's a slight puncture further up. And the way the bone's splintered…."

"Yes?" I pressed as she slowed her explanation.

"I think that whoever's finger it was had been attacked. She probably tried to defend herself with her hands and got stabbed for the effort. The knife probably went almost through her hand, breaking through the bone and scoring it, and the amount of time it's been underwater let it soften enough for it to break away and float to shore."

I felt slightly nauseous at the content in Hokuto-chan's proclamation. "She…?" I clumsily stated.

"Aa. That finger belonged to a woman. You can tell by the structure. It's too skinny for the length that it has to be a guy's. Either that, or it's a young man. A handsome young teenager like yourself!"

I scratched my chin. "Interesting," I stated, trying to drive my mind away from Hokuto-chan's disturbing hypothesis about this apparent murder victim.

"Neh, if you want some real information, we should go back to that pond and get the body."

"Nani!" I burst, staring at her with horror in my eyes.

"Think about it, Subaru! If that finger just washed ashore, that means the body's still down there, right? It's not like Koya-san's called the police to investigate. They tried to take care of the paranormal activity on their own, then called us in."

"Eh, they probably don't know what happened. Why call the police on a ghost hunt?"

She nodded. "Hai. Which means that the evidence to this crime's still at the bottom of the lake."

I let my lips turn into the scowl they desired to craft. A murder victim on Koya-san.

I had to go back to that pond tonight.

I needed to talk to that spirit.

Even as I was pondering when I should go back, one of Koya-san's orange-clad residence arrived and bowed hastily to us. We turned as one to regard him, mirroring one another's faces with similar uplifted eyebrows and puzzled expressions.

"Sumeragi-dono, Stargazer-sama requests your presence."

We both blinked.

"Eh, which?" Hokuto-chan questioned.

"Sumeragi Subaru-dono," the man replied, a trickle of sweat running down his brow. I guess he just figured out he was speaking to twins.

"Ah poo, there goes our afternoon," Hokuto-chan grumped, sullenly balling her hands in her lap. "Well, in return for interrupting our mini-vacation, YOU can accompany Kamui-kun and me around this mountain! After all, you've GOT to know all the best places to go!"

The poor monk looked more than a little distraught as my sister grabbed his wrist and marched towards the dormitories where Shiro-kun was changing into his 'Hokuto-chan-approved' outfit for the day which consisted of dark blue slacks and a soft white shirt accompanied by a red tie I was certain would get tied into some decorative knot, a dark blue floppy golf-cap and white sneakers. Mercilessly Hokuto-chan dragged her newest victim every step of the way with strength no one would ever figure her as being able to possess.

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I cautiously made my way up the treacherous steps towards the complex indicated to house the Stargazer, ensuring that I took a few moments of my time to glance both to my left and to my right along that shining wooden deck for fleeing little boys with rice balls hidden up their sleeves. Once I'd determined that the coast was indeed clear, I made my way across the luxuriously cleaned wooden floorboards to the thin door that rested between the venerable premonitionist and myself. Bowing steeply to the door, I humbly asked permission to enter as he'd requested.

His voice was quiet and steady as he granted me the permission I'd asked for. My eyes widened slightly at his tone.

This was no pleasant request for chitchat, much as I'd feared.

Perhaps he was simply concerned about my progress with the job he'd hired me to do. Perhaps he was wondering what I'd accomplished, seeing as how he'd garnered naught more than fleeting glimpses of me running amuck with my sister and my houseguest. Perhaps-

"Please be seated, Sumeragi-dono. Or do you wish to stand in my doorway while I speak with you?"

His voice instantly rattled me out of my mental ponderings. Flushing red, I bowed my head. "Su-sumimasen, Stargazer-dono. A-arigato," I stammered pathetically as I bowed once more, my hand instantly flying to that beret my sister had flopped upon my head to hold it in place as I completed my deep gesture of humble thanks for his offer. Straightening my stance, I made my way to the plush cushion he'd already had stationed before him and knelt.

I instantly allowed my eyes to rove the room, recognizing it within a few sweeping glances as the same room I'd first met the powerful leader of Koya-san in. The only difference in the room's décor between this day and that that preceded it was the serving of teacups that rested between us. Instantly recognizing what was to occur, I bowed my head in meek acceptance, took the foremost bowl into my hands with its piton and began to slowly grind the delicate leaves that lay in that ceramic vessel's bottom. I hardly noticed his approving nod.

"Sumeragi-dono, do you have any thoughts as to why I've summoned you?"

"I suppose you wish to ask me about my progress in solving your problematic paranormal events here at your site, Stargazer-dono," I quietly answered even as I reached for the steaming kettle of water that lay between us and poured its contents into the bowl before my knees.

"Partially. I summoned you, first and foremost, to tell you the results of my viewing of the stars yester eve."

I slowly lifted the kettle away, staying the flow of water from its spout. Lifting the bowl between my hands, I cast one glance into it before lightly turning it and offering it to my respected elder. Grandmother would be proud.

As he accepted the bowl, our fingertips cleanly avoiding contact with one another, he nodded once before laying his lips to the bowl's edge. I calmly resumed my work on the second bowl, preparing my own tea as he began to quietly speak once more after laying his tea at his knees. "I speak to you owing to the motion of the stars surrounding 'Subaru.'"

"Surrounding 'Subaru'?" I quietly asked. I couldn't help but be interested. 'Pleiades', 'Subaru' in Japan's tongue, is an often-overlooked constellation – reflective of my true persona, I feel. My name could not have been more fitting – a constellation named for seven powerful fates, but so small that it's often looked over as an insignificant blob of light in the heavens. Very much in contrast to my dear twin, 'Hokuto' – the 'Big Dipper', which stands so prominently upon the sky that no person who had ever been shown its shape could ever miss its consuming presence.

"Aa," he replied, lifting his teacup once more and taking a delicate draught. "I've seen disturbances I have never seen before. Tell me, young Sumeragi-dono, has there been any unexpected event in your recent past?"

I lifted my gaze from my bowl, stopping my reach for the water kettle. "Yes," I muttered.

"The dragon has arrived. Heaven is meshing with 'Subaru' long before the stars intended."

My shaking hand made no move for that kettle, disrupting the calm ceremony that was taking place underneath the conversation.

"The boy that accompanied you twins?"

I let my head complete a slight nod. "Shiro Kamui."

I felt the most terrifying sensations as the mighty Stargazer's eyes widen and his face went ashen. My throat constructed, my heart plummeted even as its beat raced like a broken horse in the race of its life and my stomach tried to leap past my lungs. That reaction was one I had prayed to never, never see.

"'Kamui' you say?"

I nodded once more.

"Sumeragi-dono," he whispered, "I know you are aware of your destiny. As a Seal, you are to side with and protect that Dragon that serves Heaven in humanity's name. However that destined day has not yet passed."

"I know he shouldn't be here," I mutely mouthed as I finally convinced my fingers to wrap about the kettle's handle and lift it. "But he-"

"The wavering of your heart is altering the stars. Beware your actions, Sumeragi-dono. Tragedy worse than that already written by fate could befall you."

The kettle fell to the tatami mat, spilling its contents. My eyes were huge upon my face. "What… what do you mean?" I stammered, feeling my own face drain of color.

Tragedy… worse than that already written by fate?

Tragedy already written by fate….

My mind was running rampantly over the conversation I'd had with Shiro-kun a bare week and a day ago. How we'd first met in the depths of his soul. How in the wake of tragedy I'd spoken to him about….

Please, God, no….

"The 'Scorpion' is a jealous creature, despite its own beliefs in its emotional fortitude. Draw that creature's wrath, and more suffering than is already destined to occur will land upon you and those around you."

He watched me for my reaction before bowing his head to look into his own abandoned bowl.

"If you continue to alter this time, Heaven's dragon will have but five Seals when the year which contains the Promised Day arrives."

My eyes wide with shock, I was able to offer no words to reply to his statement. Instead I numbly rose from my mat and staggered blindly towards the thin door that separated me from the job I had been contracted to accomplish.

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I was shaken considerably that evening as I sat upon the shore, my arms wrapped about my legs and clutching them so tightly that my knees were serving as a resting place for my chin. Burying my gaze in the comforting darkness of my khaki pants, ignoring the slight breeze that stirred my loose black hair left free to move by the lacking addition of a hat, I reflected on all I had heard, all that I'd concluded. So many thoughts were racing through my head that I was finding it difficult to concentrate on any one thing in particular.

Turning my eyes to the heavens, I stared ruefully at the stars that hovered above me. Why could they give no answers to me, as they apparently did to Koya-san's Stargazer? If only I had been gifted with the ability to view the secrets of time within their glimmering light rather than commune with the spiritual realm and harness its power, I might know what to do, where to go, and why I was supposed to do all I was tasked with.

But then I'd be saddled with a cushion strapped to my knees and a tatami mat rather than a hand full of ofuda and a passport. A terribly similar fate, trapped in recognition and clan obligations and stripped of the ability to accomplish one's own dreams. A terribly similar fate made worse by the fact that the one who gazes upon the future in the star's light wasn't allowed to run amuck all about Japan solving the problems of others – rather, others came to him and his perfect viewing place of the heavens.

The disturbing conversation with Koya-san's head had me rattled, to put things mildly. Continue to alter this time, and Heaven's dragon would have but five Seals in the year of the Promised Day? He was telling me that I was altering our current time. That I would die if I continued to do such.

Why?

The 'Scorpion's' jealousy?

Astrological expert, thy name is not Sumeragi Subaru. I'm just a simple onmyouji zookeeper-in-training. Bah.

I stared at the constellation my name had been derived from as it glistened in the brilliant heavens, barely visible through the heavy leaves of the mountain's trees. Was it my imagination, or was it less bright tonight than it had been for so many years?

Perhaps I was simply letting the foreboding words of the Stargazer play with my hyperactive teenage imagination.

Or perhaps that's what he'd been referring to.

'Scorpion's' jealousy…. It was to move into Scorpio's house within the next couple months, if I recalled my astrology correctly. I've never paid much mind to the movements of stars and constellations, leaving such work to those who wrote horoscopes or star charts and to Hokuto-chan, who held a veritable obsession with them.

Was that to mean that my actions would carry repercussions within the next couple of months? And what actions were those?

The Stargazer had been concerned with the fact that the 'Kamui' was already here, that I was taking it upon myself to act as his Seal and protect him from any who would do him harm. Really, I did not see what the problem was – I would do such for any unfortunate in a similar position as Shiro-kun. Ask my sister and she'd tell of my generosity – often with snorts and rolls of her eyes and proclamations that I'm too damned forgiving and gullible for my own good.

Eh…. Her opinion of me is sometimes less than I'd like to think, I believe. I pray that most of the times when she makes those snappish remarks she's doing it in jest, but I have the sinking suspicion that such is not always the case.

So what did he mean by me altering our time? About drawing the wrath of the 'Scorpion'? About drawing down more tragedy than was to already befall me….

That statement perhaps made me the most terrified.

Tragedy was already fated to come to rest upon my shoulders. He suggested that worse would come.

I remembered the first few days that Shiro-kun was in our company, when I'd had my first conversations with him in the confines of my home, when he'd revealed that in the depths of his heart I'd spoken with him of tragedy, of accepting such tragedy, and of Hokuto-chan.

The words Stargazer had uttered towards me, "Draw that creature's wrath, and more suffering than is already destined to occur will land upon you and those around you," had me terrified. Not only would I be caught by whatever it was I was crafting, but others as well. Others who surround me.

The only others who truly surround me were Hokuto-chan and Seishiro-san.

Would she be falling victim to whatever fate was to befall her due to my actions? Due to me?

Was the association between Hokuto-chan and tragedy one I was crafting by whatever it was I was doing to alter our present?

Was the 'Scorpion's' jealousy going to strike against her?

Would I be stricken down in my attempt to defend her?

Or would I strike in such a fashion that I would no longer be worthy of the position of Seal of the Dragon of Heaven, protector of humanity? Would I fall from favor and light, essentially dying to the cause of the Promised Day? Not truly perishing, but falling eternally from those designated to partake in the decisions that would determine the fate of the Earth and its residents?

All I could know for certain is that the predictions made by the elderly man had more than upset my stomach. I'd ceased my attempts to drink my tea during that conversation and bypassed dinner, fearing my tremulous innards wouldn't be able to handle the introduction of anything of substance. Instead I'd left the festive halls where all of the complex's monks (and my sister and Shiro-kun, tired and merry and more than a little covered with dust and grass from their day's romps upon the mountain) were gathered for their dinner, making my way instead up the sides of Koya-san.

I made my way back to that forsaken clearing, seating myself near the shoreline of that tiny crystalline pond with its powerful waterfall and its chilled wind. The sun sank into the trees while I rested upon that grass. As darkness fell completely over the land and the moon slid into the heavens I turned my gaze towards that luminous globe's domain to stare at the stars as they poked their sky heads out of the dusky darkness of the cloudless night.

The other thoughts that ran through my head were similarly disturbing.

Having been analyzing Stargazer's words, focusing on Shiro-kun was an inevitability. What was he doing here? What did he want? How did he get here? How was he to get back to his own time?

And while he was here, was he directing fate to alter his past, our present? Whether consciously or subconsciously, would his presence be that turning force that would cause this greater calamity than that already destined for my head to fall upon me?

Was that increase in tragedy worth my efforts to protect and comfort him?

Would I be able to cease what I'd already started?

I scowled as I reflected upon my last two questions to myself. The boy was a lonely teenager in need. How could I think to turn away from him?

In addition to that, I was apparently the only person present in this time that could bring some measure of comfort and perhaps even joy to his miserable persona. He needed support. He needed friendship. He needed someone steadfast and determined, someone to remain by his side and lend him that arm he would need to grab when he stumbled, to lend him the strength he would need when his own flagged.

It's my duty as a Seal to protect the Dragon of Heaven, no matter what time it should happen to be.

It's my duty as a human being to protect another human being when I am able.

And… the fact that I was able to help that befuddled boy in some fashion brought me joy.

Being able to see his smile reflected in those amazing amethyst orbs of his, for some unexplained reason, made my heart flutter within my chest as almost nothing else could.

Finally, my mind flitted like a drunken butterfly to the final worry to plague it while I rested upon that chilly grass.

Hokuto-chan's hypothesis concerning the very pond I lounged beside.

A murdered woman, stabbed to death with a rough knife and sunk to the bottom of the pond I sat before to rest in its considerable depths.

I started as I heard the beginnings of human cackling. Now that I heard it again, I was able to determine that it was indeed quite feminine….

Ah, Hokuto-chan, must you always be right?

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She'd startled me when she'd materialized before me.

Bolting to my feet, my ofuda already in my hand, I stared with huge green eyes at the ghostly woman who stood before me, her head downcast and her shoulders shaking slightly with the force of her otherworldly chuckle. However, she made no move to attack. Rather she stood perfectly still before me.

I lowered my hand. "Eh…" I attempted to start.

Lifting her head, I was allowed to peruse her face. I drew a harsh breath.

She hadn't been cackling. She'd been trying to cover her sobs with hopeless laughter.

My heart was instantly moved. Lowering the slips of paper with their spells and quickly stuffing them to rest in my khaki pockets, I frowned. "Gomen," I apologized quickly even as I swooped into an instinctive bow.

She stopped her laugh, her eyes springing open with a quizzical glimmer enhanced by her ethereal tears.

"Please, I don't wish to fight this night," I started again, my voice quiet and calming as I held an empty hand to her. "I don't know why you attacked me last night, or why you've been attacking the monks that reside here, or why you attacked that tourist. But tonight I wish no combat. Please, may I speak with you?"

Her eyes were wide, her lips dropping from their hopeless smirk to a disbelieving line. Finally her full lips moved slowly. "You… what do you mean to do?"

I let my own mouth assume a kind smile. "My name is Sumeragi Subaru. I want to help you."

"Help me?" her voice quietly whispered. "Why? After what I've done, wouldn't you wish to destroy me as the others have tried to do?"

"No!" I instantly burst. "While it's true you've caused trouble on this mountain, it's obvious that you're in pain. If I can help you, maybe we can arrange something."

"Like?" she questioned, her eyes growing hard.

I let my shoulders droop slightly. My lips frowned sadly. "It pains me to see people suffering. I want to help you. Please."

She studied me critically before letting her smile widely spread across her lips. "You truly are a kind boy, aren't you? You're sincere?"

"Of course," I said with a hearty nod. "I want to help. Will you give me a chance?"

Coming to my side, she smiled brightly. "Yes."

It was then that I truly got the opportunity to study her. Translucent as all spirits I've encountered are, she was nonetheless beautiful. She was garbed in a long, simple sundress with delicate ivy patterns racing along its length, a thin belt of ribbon cast about her waist and spaghetti-thin straps slipping over her shoulders to hold that dress in place. Long wavy hair was held in a simple ponytail at the base of her neck with a thick ribbon tied into a perfect bow. Long eyelashes framed energetic and expressive eyes. Full lips, coated with a glossy sheen, curled into delectable smiles. Large hoop earrings dangled from her lobes, accompanying a delicate bracelet snaking around her right wrist, a small watch looping about her left, and a fragile ring circling the fourth finger upon her left hand.

A wedding band, if my knowledge of western customs serves right.

I remained silent as I studied her, allowing her to make the first move. I wasn't surprised when she turned her face away from me even as she sat at my side and chose instead to look at the heavens above. "It's a lovely night, isn't it Sumeragi-san?"

"Please, feel free to call me Subaru-kun," I said to her respectively even as I joined her gaze. Staring at the constellation I was named for, I sighed quietly. "What's your name?"

"Alice," she replied simply.

"Alice-san," I repeated in as crisp of English as I could manage. "It is a beautiful night. You don't see anything like this in Tokyo."

She laughed softly with a nod. "I have to agree with that. He said that, too."

"He?"

"The man who brought me here," she sighed quietly. "He told me that I had to see the beauty of the sky from Mount Koya."

"I'm certain you don't regret that," I murmured.

"Not at all," she clarified with a smile. "It is the most beautiful place I've ever been."

"Is that why you don't choose to leave?"

Her face instantly fell, her eyes narrowing as her smile flattened in anger. "No. I'm not leaving until he pays."

I sighed softly, my eyes as gentle as I could get them to be while I turned my gaze back on her and ignored the stars. "Alice-san, you're talking about the man who brought you here?"

"No. The man who killed us."

My brain leaped in my head. _Us?_

"My fiancé was killed where you're seated, attempting to defend me. I watched him being slaughtered before I was…."

"Please, feel free to speak if you wish. If not, that is fine as well," I softly assured.

"He raped me. Then he turned his knife on me. I tried to defend myself, but…."

Bowing my head, I sighed quietly before reaching out to lightly grip her hand in mine. Giving it a reassuring squeeze, I lifted my eyes to meet hers. I was not surprised to feel tracks of tears snaking down my cheeks.

How terrible! How could one's heart not be moved by such a tragic tale?

She was startled at the sight of my tears, though. "Subaru-kun," she whispered before letting a light giggle pass her full lips. "Don't cry for me. I'm already dead."

I snorted. "Don't tell me not to cry," my voice roughly hissed as I lifted my free hand to scrape the tears from my eyes. "Such a terrible thing! Who…."

"I don't know," she bashfully said, her cheeks flushing slightly as she looks away. "I just remember that he was in the robes of the monks."

In the robes of the monks? Oh, fabulous.

"The one man who was not in the robes that I tried to bring to the pond looked just like him. I wasn't sure if he'd just wandered without his garments to the place of his crime. You… I'm sorry. I was just being rash. Everyone's been trying to get rid of me before I can find him and make him pay."

Now we were getting somewhere.

Now I had a place to start.

Revenge is not my business, but I would bring this man to this place to stand witness to what he'd done, to hopefully express sorrow over his crimes. Perhaps that would bring enough comfort to Alice-san's soul to allow her release.

I would find out.

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As the tourist who'd been attacked hadn't seen but four days of care, he was easy enough to find. Still in the hospital, he had no opportunity to run from me.

He was also quite innocent.

After lengthy conversations with him, I'd come to discover that this had indeed been his first trip to Koya-san and that he had no intention of ever returning again. He had no knowledge of Alice-san and her dead fiancé.

But my trip was not for naught. He did reveal one incredibly pertinent fact – he had a cousin who looked much like himself at Koya-san's monasteries, a cousin he'd been intending to visit that hadn't been at the site the day he'd arrived and journeyed to that pond to take pleasure in the natural beauty the mountain possesses. That cousin had joined to cast off the sins of his past life and begin anew.

_tbc..._


End file.
